(Yicai Global) Aug. 26 -- Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba Group Holding, is to donate a 2 percent stake in Alibaba's fintech affiliate Ant Group to charitable causes. The gift could be worth as much as USD4.5 billion once the world's most valuable unicorn goes public this year.

Billionaire Ma has pledged 610 million out of the 2.7 billion shares he holds in Ant to charity, filings for the company's initial public offering showed yesterday. The donation will be handled by Yunbo Investment Consulting, which indirectly owns 50.5 percent of Ant.

The Hangzhou-based fintech giant is preparing for a dual listing on exchanges in Shanghai and Hong Kong later in a much-anticipated IPO that could value the firm at USD225 billion, according to a Bloomberg News report on Aug. 21. Ant owns and runs China's largest mobile payments platform Alipay.

Ma and fellow Alibaba co-founder Joseph Tsai set up philanthropic trusts in 2014 funded by stock options of around 2 percent of the e-commerce giant's equity.

Ma has been focusing on public welfare, including education, healthcare, environmental protection, entrepreneurship and female leadership, since he resigned as Alibaba's executive chairman last year.

Editor: Kim Taylor