Alibaba has slashed its fundraising target for a secondary listing in Hong Kong to as little as $10bn — half its original goal — as it tries to push through a deal by the end of the year.
The Chinese ecommerce group put a planned offering of up to $20bn on hold after filing for a secondary listing in June, as protests escalated in Hong Kong over the summer. It now seeks to raise between $10bn and $15bn before the end of the year, according to people familiar with the matter.
One of the people cautioned that funds raised from the secondary listing, which comes five years after the company’s record $25bn initial public offering in New York, could vary substantially depending on the mood of the market. Progress on talks to resolve the US-China trade war remains unclear, despite signs of a breakthrough, while global economic data has been mixed.