Chinese internet firm Alibaba’s Hong Kong-traded shares fell sharply after regulators halted the $37bn listing of its Ant Group spin-off at the eleventh hour, jeopardising the world’s biggest share debut.

Ant Group, China’s largest financial technology company, had been set to jointly list in Shanghai and Hong Kong on Thursday as part of a record-breaking initial public offering, which had drawn $2.8tn worth of orders from institutional and retail investors.

But on Tuesday evening, Shanghai’s stock exchange suspended the listing after Jack Ma, the billionaire founder of Alibaba and Ant, was summoned by Chinese regulators for “supervisory interviews”. It also cited “other major issues” including changes to the “financial regulatory environment”.