Alibaba is considering raising as much as $20 billion through a secondary listing in Hong Kong, people familiar with the matter told Reuters, lining up a second blockbuster deal following its 2014 record $25 billion float in New York.
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Alibaba is considering raising as much as $20 billion through a secondary listing in Hong Kong, people familiar with the matter told Reuters, lining up a second blockbuster deal following its 2014 record $25 billion float in New York.
The deal, which would be the sixth-biggest follow-on share sale ever, would give Alibaba a war chest to keep investing in technology – a priority for China as growth flags and as the world’s second-largest economy faces an escalating trade spat with the United States.
The e-commerce giant is working with financial advisers on the offering and is aiming to file an application confidentially in Hong Kong as early as the second half of 2019, three people said on condition of anonymity as the plans are not public yet.
They cautioned that many details were not clear, including the planned size. One person with direct knowledge said it was more likely to be between $10 billion and $15 billion.
At $20 billion, Alibaba’s deal would rank behind NTT’s 1987 $36.8 billion sale, crisis era offerings of $24.
