SOURCE / MARKETS
Ant Group refunds investors as scheduled after IPOs suspended, including annual percentage rate interest of 0.35 percent
Published: Nov 10, 2020 12:39 PM

Photo taken on Oct. 26, 2020 shows Ant Group logo on the buildings of Hangzhou headquarters in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. (VCG)



Ant Group refunded investors as planned on Monday, including interest, after the group's IPOs were suspended, investors reported on Tuesday.

Some investors said on Monday that their securities accounts showed that the money paid for their new Ant Group shares had been returned along with the interest, the China Securities Daily reported on Tuesday.

"I duly received the 34,400 yuan ($5,207.1) I paid for 500 new shares in Ant Group, as well as the 2.01 yuan interest," said an investor surnamed Xu.

According to Xu, she had not received notification from the securities company about the refund, but had checked the balance of her account and found that 34,402.01 yuan has been returned. 

Analysts said the annual percentage rate of interest was 0.35 percent, equivalent to the benchmark interest rate on demand deposits of banks.

"Ant group issued the refunds in a timely manner, meaning investors can minimize the loss of capital occupation. Securities traders should inform investors of the refund as soon as possible, so as to reduce investor anxiety and let them make new investment arrangements in advance," said He Nanye, a researcher from Suning Financial Research Institute. 

Fintech giant Ant Group had it IPO suspended by Chinese stock regulators last week, and announced last Thursday that it was planning to start refunding bids for the Shanghai tranche of its listing. That seems to have been the case. 

Ant Group, which is backed by Alibaba, planned to raise more than $30 billion by listing on the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges, with HK$120 billion ($15.48 billion) funds from Hong Kong.