Alibaba plans to return home to list

Source: Xinhua | 2018-03-16

CHINESE e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is working on a plan to list on a stock exchange in its home country, the Wall Street Journal said yesterday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Alibaba is evaluating ways in which its shares could be traded by investors on the Chinese mainland, the newspaper said.

The news of a probable listing comes a few weeks after it was reported that China may allow its offshore-listed tech giants to sell depositary receipts, a form of shares, on the mainland.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission will start accepting applications from interested firms toward the end of the year, according to a previous report.

Alibaba, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, is one of the world’s biggest tech companies listed offshore. Others include Baidu Inc, JD.com Inc and Tencent Holdings Ltd.

Alibaba did not immediately respond to a request for comment.