It is expected that it will raise US$34.4 billion when trading in Ant Group shares begin in Shanghai and Hong Kong in nine days time. And that's on the sale of just 11 per cent of the company. If the $10.30 initial expected price of a single Ant share is realised it will mean the company will be worth some $310 billion. That would make Ant as valuable as any old-established or new bank anywhere on the planet, including the US. Analysts say that there is such enormous pent-up demand from major institutional investors vying to buy into a share of the action that the price eventually achieved could well be in excess of $10.30 a share. Ant Group is backed by Jack Ma, a former teacher of English who co-founded and was executive chairman of the multinational Chinese conglomerate the Alibaba Group and became a multi-billionaire in the process. Back in 2014, when Alibaba floated on the New York Stock Exchange, the IPO was worth $25 billion. Ant's launch in China will easily overtake that figure.