After Wall Street, Alibaba sets out to conquer the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The Chinese giant, an e-commerce specialist, began Friday, November 15, the process of its introduction to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange while the former British colony is sinking into an unprecedented political crisis. The Chinese company hopes to raise nearly 12 billion euros.

Founded by the eccentric billionaire Jack Ma, the group had in 2014 made Wall Street the largest IPO (IPO) of history. He now chooses the Chinese place to raise capital and finance its international development.

"New start"

Some 500 million shares will be offered by the group at a maximum price of 188 Hong Kong dollars (21 euros) to investors from the former British colony, for a total of 10.8 billion euros.

An over-allocation option is provided. This could allow Alibaba to rake in up to 11.7 billion euros, making it the largest IPO in Hong Kong since 2010.

"For a young company that is only 20 years old, it's a new beginning," Daniel Zhang, CEO of the group, said in a letter to investors.

The latter also wanted to send a reassuring message to Hong Kong, after five months of increasingly violent protests against the growing influence of the communist regime in the autonomous territory.

"The future of Hong Kong remains resplendent"

In 2014, Alibaba dismissed "with regret" a listing in Hong Kong when he chose New York, recalled his CEO. The company had then raised $ 25 billion - an absolute world record for an IPO.

But since then, Hong Kong has allowed listed securities in its place to be also abroad. Alibaba had then planned to enter the Asian market last summer, but had finally postponed its plan due to the Sino-US trade war and growing social tension in Hong Kong.

"In this time of change, we continue to believe that the future of Hong Kong remains resplendent," said Daniel Zhang. "We hope to contribute, in our way, to the future of Hong Kong," he added to explain the decision made by the firm not to postpone its IPO for the time being.

Closer to Beijing

This IPO, however, should satisfy Beijing who wants to see more large Chinese companies listed in Asia. China has just created a new technology listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The head of the Hong Kong executive, Carrie Lam, has herself encouraged the founder of Alibaba to elect the Asian financial center.

"The listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange will allow more customers and shareholders of Alibaba (...) to participate in the growth of the company," she said.

The Hang Seng Index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange rose 0.48% after the announcement of Alibaba.

Thirty-five billion euros in sales in 24 hours

Founded in 1999, the Alibaba behemoth has taken full advantage of the phenomenal consumer appetite for online commerce, and has become one of the largest market capitalization companies in the world.

Its various online trading platforms bring together 785 million monthly users on mobile phones, for China alone.

The group aims to serve China one billion consumers (out of a total population of 1.4 billion), by five years. "As the world is transformed into a digital economy (...) globalization is the future of the Alibaba group," said Daniel Zhang.

The e-commerce giant has been waiting for the traditional "Feast of Singles" (the biggest sales day in the world) to proceed with its IPO. Record sales of nearly € 35 billion in 24 hours were then made, a turnover up 26% over last year.

With AFP