August Debut For Alibaba IPO
International Business Times
Published Jul 11, 2014 01:49PM ET
Updated Jul 11, 2014 02:15PM ET
August Debut For Alibaba IPO
By Greg Morcroft - With many of the where and why questions about Chinese Internet giant Alibaba’s much-anticipated initial public offering answered, speculation about when the IPO will launch is Wall Street’s latest parlor game.
The Wall Street Journal on Friday cited sources familiar with the planning saying the company will likely launch in August. The source based that assumption on his understanding that the company was preparing its so-called road show, a global tour to brief possible investors and answer their questions.
And, according to Bloomberg News, regulators in Washington appear to be vetting the proposed offering quickly and with little resistance so far.
But Lingering concerns about Alibaba show up in a recent survey by ConvergEx that revealed 64 percent of the financial industry professionals see Alibaba Group as a good long-term investment, though only 43 percent intend to buy shares in the upcoming IPO.
More than half of the ConvergEx subjects expect the share price to gain more than 10 percent in the first month, but less than one-third currently hold shares in Chinese companies.
The Journal said the company sent an email to prospective investors about the road show, but also cautioned that the actual timing will still depend on market conditions.
The company has been planning its IPO for quite some time and last month named James R. Wilkerson, former chief of staff to ex-U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, to run its international corporate affairs office, signaling its intention to become a major global operation after going public. Alibaba plans to raise $1 billion initially, and then $15 billion to $20 billion, which could surpass Facebook’s $16 billion initial public offering in 2012.
The prospective August IPO would be a bit unusual as much of Wall Street and most of the European investment community is usually vacationing then.
Alibaba has a lot at stake with the offering, and launching in a quiet market could dull demand for what’s easily the most anticipated IPO of the year.
An August would also buck tradition.
Get The News You Want
“Our data from the last ten years shows that the most popular month to do an IPO is November when 11.6 percent of IPOs are priced,” Kathleen Smith, Principal, IPO ETF manager at Renaissance Capital said. “The least popular month is January when 5.4 percent of IPOs are priced.”
But she did confirm that it’s rumors that the Alibaba IPO will price in August, “the eighth most popular month when 7.7 percent of IPOs are priced.”
But, in the spirit of the parlor game it’s become, xxx added, “Note that August as the ‘eighth’ most popular month when 8% (7.7% rounded) of IPOs are priced is a lucky coincidence as Alibaba’s ticker symbol ‘BABA’ means 8 8 in Mandarin.”
Eight is considered a lucky number in Chinese culture. The number's pronunciation in Chinese, 'Ba' is similar to the character pronounced 'Fa', meaning wealth or fortune.
Written By: International Business Times
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.