China/Hong Kong
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett Hong Kong partner Leiming Chen and Palo Alto partner William Hinman are advising Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. on a planned U.S. initial public offering that could raise $13 billion. Last Sunday, the Hangzhou-based company officially announced it will not pursue a Hong Kong listing because of its disagreement with the city’s securities regulator on shareholder structure. Alibaba wanted a structure that would allow a group of senior executives, including chairman Jack Ma, to maintain control of the company without owning a majority of the shares, but the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has long barred such dual-share structures. A Hong Kong–based spokeswoman with Alibaba says the company has not yet hired any underwriter, but Reuters reports it has been in talk with Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs Group, J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley for underwriting the deal. [Read full story]
