Chinese financial technology firm Ant Group will make its first largest appearance in the world in the stock market.
The company, backed by Alibaba e-commerce platform founder Jack Ma, will sell its shares worth US $ 34.4 billion in stock markets in Shanghai, China and Hong Kong.
Advisers to Ant set the stock price yesterday amid reports of very strong demand from major investors.
Earlier, Saudi Aramco made its first major appearance last December when it sold its US $ 29.4 billion shares.
Ant Group only sells about 11% of its shares but the total value of the business is US $ 313 billion.
Jack Ma is reported to have a US $ 17 billion stake in the company, bringing his wealth to US $ 80 billion and confirming his position as the richest man in China.
Ant Group runs Alipay, China's dominant online payment system. In addition, Ant Group also offers property management, insurance and money transfer services.
The company is expected to make a joint listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong next week.
"This is the first largest listing of its kind in human history and was performed outside of New York City," Jack Ma said at a conference in China last Saturday.
