TechFlow news — On July 20, Ant Group, the parent company of Alipay, announced plans to pursue a dual listing on the STAR Market of the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Main Board of The Hong Kong Stock Exchange Limited.
It is reported that in 2015, the National Social Security Fund invested in Ant Financial (now Ant Group), contributing an actual amount of 7.8 billion RMB for a 5% stake. By the end of 2019, Wang Zhongmin, former deputy理事长 of the Social Security Fund, revealed that the return on this investment had exceeded six times the initial amount, making it the most successful external investment the fund has made in recent years.
Reflecting on the Social Security Fund's strategic investment in Ant Financial back in 2015, Wang Zhongmin shared three key insights from that decision:
First, valuing digital companies based on business logic. In 2015, Alibaba's business model in e-commerce was already mature. By assessing whether Alibaba’s success could be replicated within Ant Financial, Wang concluded that Ant Financial was undervalued at the time.
Second, the importance of cloud computing. During due diligence, it was evident that Ant Financial was already leveraging Alibaba Cloud's internet infrastructure. Cloud computing has been one of the most critical technological enablers in the past decade of digital development, serving as the foundational architecture supporting business growth and market expansion.
Third, blockchain research and application. Wang observed that Ant Financial was at the global forefront of blockchain technology research and implementation, successfully attracting a large number of top blockchain researchers to join the company.
