China Tower IPO ‘draws Alibaba and Hillhouse’

China Tower, the state-owned wireless infrastructure operator, has attracted Hillhouse Capital and a unit of Alibaba Group Holding as investors in its planned Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO), people with knowledge of the matter said.

Hillhouse funds and Taobao China Holding are among the 10 firms that agreed to buy about $1.4bn of stock as cornerstone investors, the people said.

China Tower is expected to start taking investor orders on Monday, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the details are private.

The planned IPO could raise as much as $8bn, one of the people said.

China Tower is pursuing what could be the world’s biggest IPO in almost four years amid a slump in the Hong Kong equity market, with the benchmark Hang Seng index trading down 15% after setting a record high in January.

Hillhouse funds and the Alibaba unit agreed to invest $400m and about $100m, respectively, in China Tower’s IPO, the people said. Other cornerstone investors include affiliates of China National Petroleum, SAIC Motor and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, according to the people with knowledge.

An $8bn deal would be the world’s biggest first-time share sale since Alibaba’s $25bn US stock offering in 2014, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. China Tower is expected to price its offering on about August 1, the people said.

A China Tower representative could not immediately comment outside normal business hours. An external representative for Hillhouse declined to comment, while an external representative for Alibaba said she could not comment on the matter immediately.