Alibaba's record-breaking IPO priced at 68 dollars - Xinhua

Alibaba's record-breaking IPO priced at 68 dollars

NEW YORK, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group on Thursday set its initial public offering (IPO) price at 68 U.S. dollars per share, setting a record-breaking IPO in U.S. history.

The price per share is at the ceiling of its expected range of between 66 dollars and 68 dollars disclosed earlier.

Offering a total of 320 million shares, the company raised 21.8 billion dollars, topping the 19.7-billion-dollar initial offering of Visa Inc. in 2008.

However, if the underwriters exercise the right to purchase up to an aggregate of 48 million additional shares granted by Alibaba, the total funds raised will reach 25 billion dollars, beating Agricultural Bank of China's IPO of 22.1 billion dollars in 2010 to be the largest in the world.

The company would be valued at 168 billion dollars at the IPO price of 68 dollars per share.

Alibaba kicked off its global roadshow on Sept. 8 in New York and received enough bookings for the offering within five days thanks to massive interests from investors.

Alibaba, founded by Jack Ma in 1999, is one of the largest e-commerce titans in the world. It controls 80 percent of all online retail sales in China.

Alibaba's business model is considered as a mixture of those of Amazon and eBay. In 2013 alone, the company handled 250 billion dollars worth of merchandise, more than Amazon and eBay combined.

Alibaba's major platforms include Taobao.com, China's largest consumer-to-consumer site, and Tmall.com, where brands sell directly to consumers. It also created a Paypal-like payment system Alipay to ensure transaction safety between buyers and sellers.

Kenneth Polcari, director of NYSE Floor Operations at O'Neil Securities Inc., commented that the market alone in China with some 1.3 billion population is huge and people will look at it almost as a proxy of the Chinese economy.

"If you believe in what's happening around the world, if you believe in the transition of the Chinese economy to more of a market economy, I think the potential in the future is very bright," Polcari told Xinhua.

Alibaba is looking to expand into the Americas and Europe. If things go as it is expecting, certainly the potential is huge, he said.

Alibaba submitted IPO filings to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on May 6, and its shares will begin trading on Friday at the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "BABA."

阿里巴巴敲定发行价　美国最大ＩＰＯ诞生

新华网纽约９月１８日电（记者刘凡　黄继汇）中国电商巨头阿里巴巴１８日宣布，将其首次公开募股（ＩＰＯ）发行价确定为每股美国存托股（ＡＤＳ）６８美元，这标志着美国融资额最大的ＩＰＯ诞生。

该发行价位于阿里巴巴此前预估的每股美国存托股６６美元至６８美元区间的上限。按此次上市计划发行的３．２０亿股美国存托股计算，阿里巴巴ＩＰＯ融资额将达２１８亿美元，一举打破尘封６年半之久的美国ＩＰＯ融资额纪录。此前的纪录为维萨卡公司２００８年３月上市所创，融资额为１９７亿美元。

而如果阿里巴巴的上市承销商行使最多４８０2万股美国存托股的超额认购权，阿里巴巴上市融资额最高可达２５０亿美元，将超越中国农业银行２０１０年创下的２２１亿美元的全球ＩＰＯ融资额最高纪录。

阿里巴巴每股美国存托股６８美元的发行价对应的市值为１６８０亿美元。按计划，阿里巴巴将于１９日在美国纽约证券交易所正式挂牌交易，股票代码为“ＢＡＢＡ”。“我认为，明天阿里巴巴开盘价在７５美元每股都是保守的估计，”美国投行Ｃｈａｒｄａｎ资本市场高级副总裁柳艺对记者说。

柳艺说，从互联网渗透率、移动渗透率、网上消费等看，中国距离美国相对成熟的市场还有很长的距离，未来阿里巴巴还存在很多市场机遇，但与此同时阿里巴巴也要解决好淘宝产品质量、知识产权等问题。

奥尼尔证券公司资深交易员肯尼思·波尔卡里也对阿里巴巴的前景较为乐观。他说：“中国有规模如此大的消费人口，很多人将阿里巴巴差不多视作中国经济的缩影，把它当作一种过去没有过的投资中国经济的机会。如果你对世界经济、对中国经济转型、对中国的市场充满信心，那么未来阿里巴巴的潜力将巨大的。”

阿里巴巴创立于１９９９年，今年３月１６日宣布启动赴美上市事宜，受到了全球投资者和媒体持续而广泛的关注。目前阿里巴巴旗下的淘宝网、天猫、聚划算等交易平台的网络成交额约占中国在线购物总规模的８０％。该公司零售交易总额超过其竞争对手亚马逊和亿贝的总和。

(Note: The above is the same story reported in English and Chinese respectively, and is not literal translation.)