(Yicai Global) Oct. 28 -- Ant Group’s employees hold shares in the Chinese financial technology giant that are worth about CNY137.69 billion (USD20.6 billion) based on the pricing of its initial public offering, something that has not gone unnoticed online.

Ant’s equity incentive plan totaled 3.079 billion shares, according to its IPO prospectus. Stock doled out to employees made up about 65 percent of that as of Sept. 30. The company priced the shares offered in the Shanghai tranche of its dual listing at CNY68.8 (USD10.25) each and those in Hong Kong at HKD80 (USD10.32), it said on Oct. 26.

The prospectus did not state how many staffers hold stock, but Ant had 16,660 eligible workers as of June 30. So each one may own shares valued at CNY8.26 million (USD1.23 million).

That is the price of a 290-square-meter house in Ant's home base, the garden city of Hangzhou in eastern Zhejiang province. Some online commentators have pointed out that the IPO may galvanize the property market in the provincial capital, which is also the headquarters for other tech giants such as Alibaba Group Holding, a company affiliated with Ant.

At the start of July, Hangzhou becoming the first major Chinese city to impose controls on real estate deals since the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Ant’s upcoming stock market flotation, the world’s biggest to date, values the business at CNY2.1 trillion (USD313 billion). The firm is set to bank at least CNY221.1 billion (USD33 billion) from the sale of shares.

Editor: Ben Armour