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The listing of Alibaba in Hong Kong, above, would give mainland Chinese investors access to shares via a commercial link with Mainland China.
Photo:
France / Press / Press Agency France / Getty Images
Alibaba Group Holding
Ltd.
Baba 0.28%
has filed confidential documents for registration in Hong Kong, according to people familiar with the case, thus beginning a process that could lead the Chinese Internet giant to raise billions of dollars through a major sale of actions in the coming months.
The proposed equity offering is led by investment banks
International Capital of China
Corp.
and
Swiss credit
,
one of the people said.
The news of Alibaba's confidential filing had already been reported by Bloomberg.
The listing projects come more than four years after Alibaba's IPO in New York, after raising $ 25 billion in what remains the largest public offering in the world.
The online sales giant, which concentrates most of its activities in China, recently achieved a market capitalization of about $ 417 billion and is one of the two most profitable companies in the country. The other is
Tencent Holdings
Ltd.
, which is already listed in Hong Kong.
Given the large market capitalization of Alibaba, an offer representing only 5% of the shares of the company would amount to about $ 20 billion of shares.
A second listing in Hong Kong would create another important market for Alibaba's shares and attract more investors familiar with the company, which could potentially improve its valuation. Hong Kong has a commercial relationship with mainland China that allows it to buy and sell shares listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Last year, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange changed its rules to allow large Chinese companies already listed in the United States or London to add a secondary listing to the city. This included allowing them to classify confidential documents with the exchange.
Businesses typically initiate purchase offers within two to three months of applications being filed.
Other rule changes include the authorization of corporations of different classes of voting shares to register in Hong Kong. Alibaba has a complex governance structure that gives its founder, Jack Ma, and other executives more control than other shareholders in the company.
-Julie Steinberg contributed to this article.
Write to Liza Lin at [email protected] and Stella Yifan Xie at [email protected]
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