Beijing, Oct 29 (EFE).- China's Ant Group, the fintech arm of e-commerce giant Alibaba, will make the world's largest stock market debut on Nov. 5, a representative of the company told EFE on Thursday.

Ant, the parent company of popular digital payments platform Alipay, aims to raise nearly $34.5 billion by simultaneously listing in the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges.

Ant Group will thereby become the first privately-owned company to be listed simultaneously in the two bourses.

The date of Nov 5 is confirmed for the Hong Kong stock exchange.

But it has not been formalized for Shanghai, where the subscription of shares will begin on Thursday and the payment of the subscribed shares will be completed by Nov. 2.

Following that, Ant will request to have its shares listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's STAR market, dubbed the Chinese Nasdaq.

The representative of the company told EFE that Ant planned to make its debut simultaneously in both bourses, and, if all went well, the date for its initial public offering (IPO) in Shanghai would also be Nov. 5.

Sources from the Shanghai stock exchange told EFE that Ant is making preparations for a ceremony on Nov. 5 to celebrate its debut in the bourse.

The company, which was founded in 2014 and was called Ant Financial, intends to use the funds it raises through the IPO to expand its user base and digital services, as well as to develop other services such as cross-border payments.

Alibaba has held a 33 percent stake in Ant Financial since September 2019.

Until then, the fintech arm paid 37.5 percent of its pre-tax profits to the parent company as a fee.

Alibaba's founder, Jack Ma, the wealthiest man in China, holds a 50.5 percent stake in Ant and could see his fortune multiply after the group's record IPO.

Ant's share costs 68.8 yuan ($10.25) in Shanghai and HK$80 ($10.32) in Hong Kong, which would put the company's valuation at more than $313 billion. EFE

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