Alibaba IPO has Wall St 'eagerly' waiting

Jack Ma, chairman ofAlibaba GroupHolding Ltd, speaks at a news conference in Japan. The e-commerce giant has been on a spending spree ahead of its IPO in the United States. Provided to China Daily

Perhaps its brand already has had an impact in the US and globally, but China's e-commerce giant Alibaba Group will certainly deepen it even further when it lists on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) - reportedly - sometime after Labor Day next month.

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At $16 billion, this largest-ever initial public offering (IPO) in US history has drawn so much attention from investors and media, as well as its likely rivals, not only because of its scale, but also because it's a Chinese company that's poised to make history on an exchange in the world's No 1 economy.

"This is a major step for Alibaba because it forces the world financial community to evaluate the company and its business model," said Frank Lavin, a former US under-secretary of commerce for international trade and founder of Export Now, which helps companies sell on-line in China.

"There is no doubt that Alibaba's IPO on the New York Stock Exchange will help to amplify its brand recognition on a global scale," said Mark Otto, partner at J Streicher and Co and a trader on the NYSE.

Along with the company's acquisition of stakes in US online retailers Fanatics Inc, ShopRunner Inc and Quixey Inc, a search engine for mobile apps, Alibaba's IPO will have an impact on both investors and competitors from both China and the US.

"Alibaba's IPO will certainly impact its competitors share price," said Otto. "Market reaction based on its valuation could result in Alibaba's stock siphoning off volume from its competitors."

"As the US markets have continued to set new all time highs, traders seeking yield have turned to China-based e-commerce stocks as an alternative investment, making them a hot item," said Otto.

Founded in 1999 in Hangzhou in east China's Zhejiang province, the privately-owned e-commerce firm Alibaba was, as of July, valued as high as $150 billion. Its efforts for tapping into the overseas market have made some $260 billion in online retail sales in the US last year, making it a rising competitor for US e-commerce firms such as Amazon.com.

With a population of 1.3 billion and a growing middle class, China is predicted to occupy 18.6 percent of global B2C (business-to-consumer) sales by the end of this year, and the number of online shoppers in China is predicted to jump from 193 million to more than 350 million by 2015, according to Statista, an online statistics portal. Alibaba captures about 80 percent of the e-commerce market in China.

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