Alibaba hikes IPO price range

Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba said late on Monday that it would increase the price range for its initial public offering (IPO) to between $66 (51 euros) and $68 - as opposed to the previous range of $60 to $66 per share.

With a total of 368.1 million shares going under the hammer, Alibaba could stand to raise $25 billion from the IPO. The shares being sold represent less than a one-sixth stake in the total company - which has been likened to a giant Chinese mix of Amazon, Google and eBay. The company is China's market leader, and has also successfully encourage customers to shop online via smartphones or mobile devices - something its US rivals have found more challenging.

Facebook's 2012 IPO, raising $16 billion for the company before the share prices promptly collapsed, has been the most lucrative technology flotation on Wall Street to date. Credit card company Visa's 2008 offering was the US' largest ever, raising $19.7 billion. In 2010, the Agricultural Bank of China set the global record with a double IPO in Hong Kong and Shanghai generating $22.1 billion.

Open NYSE-sesame

Alibaba is expected to be priced late on Thursday and to start trading on Friday under the ticker symbol "BABA" on the New York Stock Exchange. The company decided on the US stock market so that it could have an alternative class share structure allowing selected minority shareholders extra control over the board; Hong Kong was unwilling to change its rules to accommodate Alibaba.

"Some people have said that Hong Kong lost the opportunity to have Alibaba," company founder Jack Ma recently said at an investor road show in the city. "I personally feel Alibaba missed out on Hong Kong. I believe, I understand and I especially support the fact that Hong Kong should not change its principle for one company or one enterprise. But Hong Kong must … change for its own future because this world is in the midst of change."

Japan's Softbank and US Internet business Yahoo currently hold 36- and 22.4-percent stakes in Alibaba respectively, although Yahoo plans to pare down its stake via the IPO.

Alibaba's last quarterly figures did nothing to slow the pre-IPO hype; the company logged revenues of $2.54 billion - a 46-percent increase year-on-year - and profits of around $2 billion. The quarterly profits were buoyed to the tune of around $1 billion, however, by the company writing up the value of its own investment portfolio.

msh/xx (AFP, AP, dpa)