HONG KONG: Chinese online retail titan Alibaba could raise almost $13 billion in Hong Kong’s biggest IPO for nearly a decade after pricing its shares for the mega sale, reports said on Wednesday.
Asia’s biggest company has called the listing a multi-billion-dollar vote of confidence in the city’s markets as it is wracked by months of violent protests and the China-US trade war, which have sent its economy into recession.
Alibaba will sell 500 million shares to investors at HK$176, according to Bloomberg News, below the maximum HK$188 of its indicative price range. The number eight is considered auspicious in China.
That could rake in $11 billion but if it chooses to use its over-allotment option to sell a further 75 million shares, the firm could make HK$101.2 billion ($12.9 billion), the South China Morning Post said.
Even at the low end, the listing would still be Hong Kong’s largest initial public offering since insurance giant AIA raised $20.5 billion in 2010.
The company had planned to list in the summer but called it off owing to the city’s long-running pro-democracy protests and the China-US trade war.
The firm’s shares are already traded in New York. A second listing in Hong Kong is expected to curry favor with Beijing, which has sought to encourage its current and future big tech firms to list nearer to home after the loss of companies such as Baidu to Wall Street.
Mainland authorities have also stepped up moves to attract such listings, including launching a new technology board in Shanghai in July.
The listing comes after the city’s exchange tweaked the rules to allow double listings, while Chief Executive Carrie Lam had also been pushing Alibaba’s billionaire founder Jack Ma to sell shares in the city.
Alibaba eyes $12.9bn Hong Kong IPO after setting price: reports
Alibaba eyes $12.9bn Hong Kong IPO after setting price: reports
- Asia’s biggest company has called the listing a multi-billion-dollar vote of confidence in the city’s markets
- Alibaba will sell 500 million shares to investors at HK$176, according to Bloomberg News
Taiba Investments profit rises 9% on stronger pilgrim-driven revenue
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Taiba Investments Co. reported a 9.32 percent rise in annual profit to SR364.8 million ($97.20 million) as higher pilgrim flows lifted revenue to SR1.36 billion, a filing on Tadawul showed.
Net profit attributable to shareholders increased from SR333.7 million a year earlier, with earnings per share climbing to SR1.40 from SR1.28. Revenue rose 3.7 percent to SR1.36 billion in the year ended Dec. 31, compared with SR1.32 billion in 2024.
Taiba, a hospitality and real estate developer backed by the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, Public Investment Fund, focuses on hotel and property assets primarily in the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah.
In a Tadawul filing, the company stated: “This growth was primarily driven by improved performance across the company’s segments in Makkah and Madinah, supported by higher numbers of visitors and Umrah pilgrims, the commencement of operations of new facilities, and increased revenues from the real estate segment.”
Taiba Investments reported that the SR31.1 million rise in net profit was mainly attributable to improved operating performance, the reversal of a litigation provision previously recognized in 2023 following the termination of a contractual relationship with one of the operators after a settlement between the parties, and capital gains realized from the expropriation of one of its properties in Madinah.
Total comprehensive income attributable to shareholders declined 55.53 percent to SR198.2 million from SR445.7 million.
Other comprehensive income recorded a loss of SR166.6 million, compared with a gain of SR111.9 million in the previous year, primarily due to a decline in the fair value of financial derivatives used for hedging and a decrease in the market value of certain investments measured at fair value through other comprehensive income.
Shareholders’ equity increased marginally by 0.04 percent to SR6.85 billion. Taiba's share price saw a 3.03 percent increase to SR34 by 10:20 am Saudi time.
