Ant Group Posts Profits Of $1.3B In Advance Of IPO

Ant Group, the Chinese FinTech, reported profits of 9.2 billion yuan ($1.3 billion) in the first fiscal year quarter, Bloomberg News reported. That’s up 560 percent over the same period one year ago.

The company contributed 3 billion yuan ($433.7 million) in earnings for its parent company, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., which owns one-third of Ant, per the eCommerce giant’s Q1 earnings. That would be equivalent to roughly 9.2 billion in profit for Ant, based on its equity share.

The Q1 report comes one week after Ant Group conducted a preliminary initial public offering (IPO) filing with the China Securities Regulatory Commission’s Zhejiang Regulatory Bureau. If successful, it could be the world’s largest IPO in years.

Last month, Ant Group said it is seeking a dual listing in Shanghai on STAR Market and in Hong Kong. Alliance Bernstein, the New York-based money management company has said the IPO could value the company at $210 billion.

The FinTech platform offers loans, mobile payments and money market funds. Bloomberg reported that it is expanding to offer everything from airline tickets to food delivery, as well as cloud computing and risk control technology for other FinTech and retail firms. Ant Group is reportedly working on implementing consumer financing with Nanyang Commercial Bank, China TransInfo Technology Corp. and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.

Once known as Ant Financial Services Group, the company received approval from Chinese regulators in June to drop the word “financial” from its name. The Alibaba affiliate said its name was due for a change as the large FinTech began attracting growing scrutiny from China’s financial watchdogs. As Ant Financial Services, it found its ambitious growth plans were hampered by the efforts of Chinese financial regulators to keep its expansion in check.

Ant was launched in 2014 by Jack Ma, founder of Chinese tech giant Alibaba, whose personal net worth is over $42 billion, making him the world’s 17^th richest person, according to Forbes.