Alibaba may file Hong Kong IPO in October
Staff Reporter 2013-07-24 14:53
Alibaba's headquarters in Hangzhou. (Photo/Xinhua)
Alibaba, one of China's leading e-commerce companies, is may soon list on the Hong Kong stock exchange once again in October. The value of the firm's shares is likely to exceed US$100 billion, making Alibaba's shares the most valuable on Hong Kong's stock market, according to Chinese web portal Sina.
According to reports, Goldman Sachs filed the application for Alibaba last week and provided the group's financial reports for the first half of the year to Hong Kong's securities authorities. The region's listing commission is expected to hold a hearing on the matter. If the firm's listing is successful, it could raise up a record-breaking US$20 billion in funds, with US$7 billion likely to be used to buy back a 10% share in Yahoo. Insurance group AIA currently holds the current record, raising over US$20.4 billion when it listed in 2010.
The Chinese e-commerce giant reported 10 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion) in revenue during the first half of the year, with a price-to-earnings ratio estimated of 30-40. Alibaba's current backers include Temasek Holdings, SoftBank, Digital Sky Technologies, foreign investment firms and Chinese private equities. Alibaba's twelve subsidiaries will all go public with the group except the online payment system Alipay.
