China opens door to Ant Group’s stock market debut

China opens door to Ant Group’s stock market debut

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China's central bank governor has signalled that the door remains open for Ant Group's stock market debut.

Ant, backed by billionaire founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba Jack Ma, was set to list its shares in November.

Regulators suspended the listing and the People's Bank of China later ordered a major shake-up at Alibaba.

Questions also grew about Mr Ma's whereabouts, after he missed a television engagement earlier this month.

Last week, he made his first appearance since regulators cracked down on his business empire, speaking to a group of teachers via video-conferencing software as part of a charity event.

Bank governor Gang Yi has suggested that Ant Group's share market listing could be reconsidered under the right circumstances.

Chinese tech giant Ant Group was set to sell shares worth about $34.4bn (£26.5bn) before it was abruptly halted. The listings in Shanghai and Hong Kong would have been the biggest stock market debut to date.

"I'd say that you just follow the standard of legal instruction, you will have the result,“ Yi said on Tuesday, speaking at a virtual meeting of the World Economic Forum on Tuesday.

'Complicated issue'

Mr Yi described the decision to stop the listing of Ant Group as a