Report: Alibaba eyeing $20B second Hong Kong listing to boost liquidity
CHINA’S e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is considering raising $20 billion via a second listing in Hong Kong to diversify its funding channels and boost liquidity, according to a Bloomberg report citing sources.
The company is working with financial advisers on the planned offering, and is aiming to file a listing application in Hong Kong confidentially as early as the second half of this year, the source said.
The plans are preliminary and could change, the source added. Alibaba declined to comment, said Bloomberg.
Alibaba raised $25 billion by selling shares on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014, becoming the world’s largest first-time share sale.
Previously, Alibaba intended
to list on Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd (HKEX) in 2013, but abandoned the plan and pursued an initial public offering (IPO) in New York, because the company’s dualclass corporate structure was inconsistent with HKEX’s rules then.
On April 24 last year, HKEX approved the biggest change to its IPO rules in two decades, by allowing technology firms that have shares with different voting rights to go public in Hong Kong.
Chinese tech firms Xiaomi and Meituan-Dianping listed on HKEX in July and September under the new rule. HKEX CEO Charles Li Xiaojia said many more companies are interested in filing applications, according to a report from finance.sina.com.
In addition to changing the rules on exchanges, Chinese regulators also made it clear that overseas-listed tech giants are welcomed in coming back to list on the A-share market, with the issue of Chinese Depositary Receipt a “shortcut”.
With more preferential policies, some of the big tech companies have shown signs of returning to the A-share market. NetEase founder and CEO Ding Lei said the company will certainly consider A-share listing during an interview at the two sessions last year.
Baidu chairman and CEO Robin Li said the company definitely hopes to come back to the domestic stock market as soon as possible. Tencent chairman Pony Ma said the firm will consider coming back when conditions permit.