Alibaba - set to be the largest US IPO in history

Alibaba is expected to start trading on the New York Stock Exchange on 19 September

Alibaba seeks to raise up to $24.3 billion (£15bn) in its share sale, which would be more than the previous record amount of money raised by the Agricultural Bank of China of $22.1 billion. In other words, Alibaba would be the biggest IPO in history.

It's embarking on a roadshow that will finalise its share price, which is in the range of $60-66 per share, and expects to set the price on September 18 with trading on the New York Stock Exchange starting the next day.

It means that Alibaba could be valued at about $163 billion. That's larger than 95% of the companies on the S&P500 and would make it the third most valuable Internet company after only Google and Facebook.

If its underwriters - the banks offering the share sale - don't buy additional shares, then Alibaba would raise as much as $21 billion, which would still be more than Visa's $17.9 billion raised in 2008 that had been the largest US IPO.

So, the largest US IPO is now a Chinese company. It's a sign of things to come as Chinese firms that have huge scale gained from their massive domestic market "go global."

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