(Reuters) -Shares of listed Chinese companies that count Ant Group as a major shareholder rose on Monday after announcements that Ant founder Jack Ma is giving up control of the fintech giant following an overhaul.
Hong Kong-listed shares of Ma’s Alibaba jumped more than 5%.
Shares of Longshine Technology Group Co Ltd, Jilin Zhengyuan, Shanghai Golden Bridge Infotech Co, Orbbec Inc and Hundsun Technologies, in which Ant owns a more than 5% stake, also rose.
Ant said over the weekend that founder Jack Ma will give up control of the company.
The overhaul seeks to draw a line under a regulatory crackdown that was triggered soon after its mammoth stock market debut was scuppered two years ago.
“Investors can stop guessing and can finally assign a risk premium to the new company that Ant was transformed to be,” said Alexander Sirakov, managing partner at Aquariusx, a Shanghai-based investment consultancy.
While some analysts have said a relinquishing of control could clear the way for the company to revive its initial public offering (IPO), the controller changes announced on Saturday, however, are likely to result in a further delay due to listing regulations.
China’s domestic A-share market requires companies to wait three years after a change in control to list. The wait is two years on Shanghai’s Nasdaq-style STAR market, and one year in Hong Kong.
Ant Group said on Sunday it has no plan to initiate an IPO.
Ant’s $37 billion IPO, which would have been the world’s largest, was cancelled at the last minute in November 2020, leading to a forced restructuring of the financial technology firm and speculation the Chinese billionaire would have to cede control.
(Reporting by Shanghai newsroom, Roxanne Liu and Yingzhi Yang in Beijing and Kane Wu in Hong Kong; Editing by Kim Coghill and Muralikumar Anantharaman)