Alibaba’s hotly anticipated initial public offering – which is expected to be among the largest ever stock market listings – will not come until after the US Labor Day holiday on September 1, according to people familiar with the deal.
The Chinese ecommerce giant is expected to raise about $20bn when it comes to the market, rivalling the Agricultural Bank of China’s $22.1bn IPO from July 2010, currently the biggest on record.
Investors had questioned whether Alibaba could wrap up its New York listing before the end of the summer, with many expecting the timing to be early August. But the company does not want to rush or compress the IPO process, to meet an August cut-off, the people said.