Alibaba Is Still Open to China Listing So Long as Rules Are Right
Xu Wei
DATE:  Mar 16 2018
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
Alibaba Is Still Open to China Listing So Long as Rules Are Right   Alibaba Is Still Open to China Listing So Long as Rules Are Right

(Yicai Global) March 16 -- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has reiterated its willingness to list on a Chinese stock exchange if the regulatory environment permits after the Wall Street Journal reported that the e-commerce giant is "working on a plan."

"We said on the day we sought a United States listing that we would come back as long as circumstances permit," the Hangzhou-based company said in a statement quoted by online news agency The Paper. "That thought has never changed."
 

Alibaba went public in New York more than three years ago, but is now evaluating how its shares would trade on a homeland exchange, the Wall Street Journal said yesterday, citing people in the know. The company could list as early as this summer, if China's securities laws are changed to allow a foreign company to list, one of the sources added.

Five years ago Hong Kong snubbed Alibaba after it applied to IPO as a 'partnership,' a proposal that fell flat because it involved listing shares with weighted voting rights, a scheme common among tech companies where an investor, often the founder, holds a controlling stake not based on a majority of shares. Late last year, Hong Kong announced plans to lift restrictions on share offers that involve weighted voting rights.

Come Back

In January, Alibaba founder Jack Ma said his company will reconsider a listing in Hong Kong following an invitation from government head Carrie Lam. "I hope Alibaba can come back to list in Hong Kong," said Lam, who is chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
 

China's securities regulator has also been looking into ways it can convince tech titans like Alibaba and Tencent Holdings Ltd. to list in their home market. It said recently that it has set up an expert panel to study rules that could bring in companies with new technologies or business structures, and several companies, including Alibaba's lead rival JD.Com Inc., have said they would be happy to list in the right environment.

News of a possible secondary listing in China lifted Alibaba's shares [NYSE:BABA] 3.38 percent higher yesterday to close at USD199.06 each.

Alibaba's initial public offering in September 2014 was the world's biggest to date, raising USD25 billion. The bulk of the company's operations are in China, but its New York-listed unit is registered in the Cayman Islands.
 

China has some 100 startups worth more than USD1 billion, known as unicorns, and the commission hopes to make the IPO process easier to get them onto stock exchanges. The Shanghai bourse said yesterday that it will seek to have more quality listings this year and provide services to help unicorns go public.

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Keywords:   US,Alibaba,A-Share,IPO