ALIBABA Group Holding Ltd is pushing back the start date for investor meetings for its initial public offering (IPO) by about a week to answer questions posed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said a person with knowledge of the matter.
The Chinese e-commerce giant, which was previously weighing a plan to begin marketing its IPO early this week, now sees the investor meetings beginning the week of September 8, with tentative pricing on September 18 and trading to start the following day, said the person, who asked not to be identified.
Alibaba, based in Hangzhou, China, has been in discussions with the SEC as it seeks regulatory approval of its prospectus. The company has held off rushing the deal, after originally targeting an early August trading debut, said a person familiar with the matter in July.
The investor meetings — called a roadshow — will give Alibaba, founded by billionaire Jack Ma, the opportunity to answer questions from the world’s biggest fund managers and build demand for its shares.
With Alibaba and selling shareholders expected to raise as much as US$20 billion (RM63.2 billion), the IPO has the potential to be the largest offering in US history.
At US$20 billion, Alibaba’s sale would edge past Visa Inc’s US$19.65 billion IPO in 2008 as the largest in US history, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
The Chinese e-commerce operator, which plans to sell shares on the New York Stock Exchange, may set its IPO value at US$154 billion, or 22 per cent below analyst valuations, in a move that could avoid repeating Facebook Inc’s listing flop, according to the average estimate of five analysts in July. The same analysts give Alibaba an average post-listing valuation of US$198 billion, the survey shows.
The 49-year-old founder and chairman Ma, whose assets include a 7.3 per cent economic interest in Alibaba, has emerged as China’s richest person with a net worth of US$21.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Bloomberg