Alibaba files for a listing in Hong Kong: sources
The tech firm had filed a stock listing application with the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong confidentially this week.
Chinese ecommerce tech giant Alibaba Group is said to have confidentially filed for a listing in Hong Kong, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
The tech firm had filed a stock listing application with the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong confidentially this week, the sources said. Earlier reports said the firm had picked China International Capital Corp and Credit Suisse to lead the planned share sale.
Alibaba has yet to finalize its fundraising target, the sources said, although there has long been speculation for the firm to raise as much as US$20 billion in this Hong Kong listing.
The new listing would bring the firm closer to investors in its home country. Earlier reports since last month revealed plans from the firm to file for a listing with Hong Kong confidentially from as early as the second half of 2019.
At US$20 billion, the amount would make it the largest share sale in Hong Kong since 2010. In 2010, the Agricultural Bank of China raised US$22.1 billion after it increased its initial public offering (IPO) size in a listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong. In the same year, insurer AIA raised US$17.8 billion in its debut in Hong Kong.
Alibaba first listed on the New York Stock Exchange on September 18, 2014, at US$68 per share, raising in total US$25 billion. The listing was the biggest US IPO in history, larger than US tech firms Google, Facebook, and Twitter combined.
Back then, Alibaba had opted for the listing in New York as Hong Kong did not offer the unique share structure it had wanted which gave executives more rights to voting, for example.
Hong Kong made a major upheaval to its listing rules last year, allowing new guidelines for dual-class shares in certain circumstances. The decision has proven worthwhile, with two of the hottest Asian tech firms Xiaomi and Meituan Dianping choosing to launch their IPOs with the Cantonese-speaking island.
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