Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba eyes $15bn Hong Kong listing in boost for troubled city
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holdings is eyeing a $10 to $15bn (£11.7bn) listing in Hong Kong in a boost for the Asian financial hub which is being wracked by anti-government protests.
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The US-listed company is due to seek approval from Hong Kong’s listing committee on Thursday, Reuters reported citing sources.
The listing process and bookbuild would then proceed during the week of 25 November.
The float would be the world’s biggest ever cross-border secondary listing, according to Dealogic data.
Alibaba holds the record for the world’s biggest initial public offering (IPO) for its $25bn float in New York in 2014.
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The listing comes as the government of Saudi Arabia is planning a float of two per cent of state oil company Saudi Aramco which could raise up to $30bn and beat Alibaba’s IPO record.
Alibaba has been planning an August listing in Hong Kong, but pushed back its IPO in the face of fierce anti-government protests which created financial and political uncertainty.
Alibaba last week reported second-quarter revenue increased by 40 per cent to 119.02bn yuan (£13.30bn) in the second quarter from 85.15bn yuan in the previous year.
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The result beat analysts expectations of revenue of 116.8bn yuan, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
The deal is being led by China International Capital Corp (CICC) and Credit Suisse.
Major investment banks led by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are currently jockeying for positions behind those two.
Companies so far this year have sold shares worth $429bn via IPOs and follow-on sales – running far short of the $604bn they sold in the whole of 2018, according to data from Refinitiv.
Alibaba was contacted for comment.