Chinese unicorn Ant Group has been ordered to rectify by mainland regulators since its failed listing plan in Hong Kong and China two years ago. Since the beginning of the month, following Chongqing Ant Consumer Finance Company was approved to increase its capital to 18.5 billion yuan, Ant Group issued an announcement yesterday stating that the group changed its shareholding structure, and the founder Jack Ma gave up the actual controller of the group. This represents the further “separation” of Ant and Alibaba, or represents an inflection point in the supervision of Ant.
Before understanding the new equity structure of Ant Group, it is necessary to start with the old structure.
Jack Ma once indirectly held more than 50% of the shares of Ant Group
Under the old structure, the founder Jack Ma and three persons acting in concert, Jing Xiandong, Hu Xiaoming and Jiang Fang controlled the two major employee shareholding platforms Hangzhou Junhan and Hangzhou Junao through 100% holding of Hangzhou Yunbo Investment, and then indirectly Controls 53.46% of the shares of Ant Group. Jack Ma holds a 34% stake in Hangzhou Yunbo Investment, so Jack Ma is the actual controller of Ant Group.
Ma Yun no longer has real control
Under the new architecture, there are several obvious changes:
1: The relationship between Jack Ma and the persons acting in concert with the above three persons is cancelled;
2: Jack Ma withdrew from Hangzhou Yunbo Investment and no longer controlled Hangzhou Junao;
3: Hangzhou Xingtao is newly established, and Jack Ma and four other people each hold 20% of the shares, holding a total of 31.04% of the shares of Ant Group.
4: The voting rights of upper shares are distributed among 10 natural persons. Junhan’s corporate partners include Ma Yun, Han Xinyi, Zhang Yu, Huang Chenli, and Zhou Yun; Junao’s partners include Jing Xiandong, Shao Xiaofeng, Ni Xingjun, Zhao Ying, and Wu Minzhi. Hu Xiaoming and Jiang Fang, the four core partners who used to be the upper-level shareholders of Ant Group, are not in the ranks.
After the new structure, Jack Ma’s indirect shareholding in Ant Group dropped sharply to regarding 6.2%, and he no longer has actual control rights. At the same time, there is no other single actual control role in the new structure.
Ant said that following the adjustment, the voting rights of Ant Group’s shares will be more transparent and dispersed, which is a further optimization of the corporate governance structure and will promote the sustainable and steady development of Ant Group. Ant also pointed out that among the current 8 directors on the board of directors, 4 are independent directors. In the future, it plans to continue to introduce a fifth independent director to achieve more than half of the independent directors on the board of directors.
As for Alibaba (9988), it said that its 33% stake in Ant remains unchanged, while Alibaba and other shareholders do not have absolute control over Ant Group. After the change, the voting rights held by Ant Group shareholders will be more dispersed and independent more aligned with its economic interests.
Alibaba is up 28% in the new year
After the rectification, the market hopes that Ant will re-promote the listing plan, but the company’s latest clarification indicates that it is still focusing on rectification and business upgrading, and has no plan to launch the listing.
But in any case, the market still has great expectations for the future development of Alibaba and Ant Group. Alibaba’s stock price closed up 8.6% today, closing at 110.4 yuan, a three-month high. In just five trading days in the new year, Alibaba’s stock price has risen by 28%, and its market value has regained 2,369.3 billion yuan.
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