All you need to know to start the day.
1. Alibaba’s Ant Financial to go public in dual Hong Kong-Shanghai listing
Chinese fintech giant Ant Financial has begun the process of filing for a dual listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Ant Financial is Alibaba’s financial arm, and also the owner and operator of Alipay, China’s other half of the two payment giants, the other one being Tencent’s WeChat Pay.
Ant Financial would list its shares on both the Shanghai stock exchange’s STAR (a Nasdaq-style tech board) and the Hong Kong stock exchange. By choosing to do a dual listing in these two cities, Ant Financial is rightfully taking a “China first” approach, which makes complete sense, since its product is for Chinese consumers. Listing on the NASDAQ or NYSE wouldn’t make sense in this current tense geo-political climate between the US and China.
“Through our commitment to serving the under-served, we make it possible for the whole of society to share our growth,” says CEO Eric Jing
Ant did not disclose how much it was seeking to raise in the dual IPOs or when it would go public. The company is reportedly valued at US$150 billion, making it the largest “unicorn” in the world.
2. UAE successfully launches mission to Mars
The United Arab Emirates successfully launched its Mars-bound Hope Probe this past Sunday in Japan. This marks the first of three international missions to the Red Planet this summer, as targeted by the UAE.
The Hope Probe took off from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan and successfully separated from the launch vehicle, in which the probe has established two-way communication with the ground segment in Dubai.
The Hope Probe is expected to reach Mars by February 2021. It will be the first time the UAE has orbited Mars, and the probe will stay in orbit for 1 Martian year (equivalent to 687 days on Earth) to gather information and data.
3. Julius Baer profits soar from surged trading activity
The Swiss private bank announced US$523 million (SFr491 million) of net profits, up 43% from last year. Net commission and fee income surged 8% in the first half of the year where markets swung sharply as investors rapidly traded at the height of the pandemic.
“This was driven by significantly higher brokerage commissions and income from securities underwriting following a strong increase in client transaction volumes,” said the firm. Basically, investors and firms did some heavy trading as they tried to rationalize and understand the market when the pandemic broke out globally.
Earlier this month, the firm announced plans to launch a new division selling private equity & debt investments to wealthy clients in order to obtain higher fees from investors that would be willing to tie up their savings for longer periods, in hopes of achieving higher returns.
In 2018, Julius Baer formed a joint venture with Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), to offer wealth solutions to SCB’s ultra high net worth clients in Thailand.
4. Chinese Tesla rival Xpeng Motors raises $500 million
Chinese electric car company Xpeng Motors has raised $500 million in funding from a series of power player investors, including Hillhouse Capital and Sequoia Capital China. It follows a $400 million cash injection in November from investors that included Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi.
China’s electric vehicle sector has been badly hit by the pandemic, with sales of energy powered vehicles falling by over 33% year-on-year in June. Now, things are starting to pick back up particularly with manufacturing and production bouncing back.
The Chinese government has revealed a few policies in order to stimulate China’s electric vehicle market, including extending new energy vehicle subsidies and tax break policies that had been set to expire this year to 2022.
This month, Xpeng Motors started deliveries of its new P7 sedan, which is seen as a competitor to Tesla’s Model 3.
