Ant plans early book close for HK IPO due to great demand

Jack Ma’s Ant Group Co. is planning to stop taking investor orders for the Hong Kong leg of its initial public offering (IPO) a day earlier than scheduled as the record stock sale has already been heavily subscribed, according to people familiar with the matter.

Demand has been so great the Hangzhou-based firm is set to close the institutional investor order book on Wednesday, said the people, requesting not to be identified because the matter is private.

Ant was initially planning to close the Hong Kong book at 5 pm on Thursday for each region globally, according to terms of the deal obtained by Bloomberg. The potential move would bring the closing in line with the Shanghai leg.