Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group (阿里巴巴集團), 40 percent owned by US-based Yahoo, has won the nod from the Hong Kong bourse to list its core business unit in what could become the largest Chinese Internet initial public offering (IPO) so far, state press reported yesterday.
The IPO plan of Alibaba's business-to-business unit Alibaba.com was approved at a hearing of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Thursday, the China Business News reported, citing unnamed sources.
Alibaba could launch the IPO as soon as next week and its shares are expected to start trading late this month or early next month, the report said.
Alibaba said earlier this year that it "had been preparing for the IPO." Reports in July suggested that Alibaba was aiming to raise HK$7.8 billion (US$1 billion) from the offering.
If successful, it would become the largest for a Chinese Internet company, overtaking domestic peer Hong Kong-listed Tencent Inc (
Alibaba.com, which provides online trading services for small and medium-sized companies, has more than 4,400 full-time employees.
It has 21 million registered members for its Chinese site and 3.6 million for the international site, according to its Web site.
Alibaba Group, founded by former English teacher Jack Ma (馬雲), also operates popular online auctioneer Taobao.com as well as Yahoo China.
Meanwhile, China's top coal producer Shenhua Energy Co (神華能源) said it had raised 66.58 billion yuan (US$8.9 billion) in the biggest domestic IPO to date.
Shenhua Energy, already listed in Hong Kong, will start trading in Shanghai today, the company said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange late on Sunday.
The record size of the offering exceeds that of China Construction Bank (中國建設銀行), which raised 57.12 billion yuan in its IPO last month.
China's soaring economy has increased demand for coal, which accounts for 70 percent of its primary energy consumption, making Shenhua and other energy firms a draw for investors.
Shenhua has said in its IPO prospectus that proceeds from the share sale will expand its operations, upgrade its mines and railways and make acquisitions abroad.
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