Yahoo Finance Alibaba heads towards $200bn New York float
CHINESE e-commerce titan Alibaba could reach a market valuation of over $196bn (£116.7bn) on its stock market debut, according to IG’s grey market trading leading up to the float.
Alibaba, which offers a mix of commerce services somewhere between Amazon and eBay with a transaction volume larger than both combined, is expected to file its prospectus for a listing on the New York Stock Exchange as soon as Monday.
Its float is expected to raise as much as $16bn for investment into Alibaba’s mobile shopping and social media arms.
“Foreign investors looking to buy into the Chinese internet growth story are all waiting for the Alibaba float,” Saxo Bank’s head of equity strategy Peter Garnry said yesterday.
IG has previously offered grey markets – the price companies are unofficially valued at ahead of a float – for Twitter and the Royal Mail last year, both of which accurately tracked the company’s valuations on the first day of trading.
Alibaba’s total sales for 2014 are expected to reach $420bn and its revenues for the fourth quarter last year grew 66 per cent to $3.1bn.
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