Alibaba Denies Hiring Investment Banks for Share Sale

(Corrects story first published Jan. 16 to say Alibaba hasn’t hired banks for an IPO.)

Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd., China’s biggest e-commerce company, denied hiring Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) to arrange an initial public offering in Hong Kong.

“We have not hired any banks in connection with any IPOs,” John Spelich, a Hong Kong-based spokesman for Alibaba, said yesterday by telephone. Officials at Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs declined to comment.

Investment banks are vying for a role on a possible Alibaba IPO, said three people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. An offering could happen this year, and potentially raise $3 billion to $4 billion, according to an estimate from one of the people.

A deal of that size could potentially be the largest Internet IPO since Facebook Inc., and would follow Alibaba’s re- purchase of a stake from Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) last year in a deal that valued the Hangzhou-based company at $35 billion. Alibaba this week announced billionaire founder Jack Ma’s decision to step down as chief executive officer following an organizational restructuring.

To contact the reporters on this story: Fox Hu in Hong Kong at fhu7@bloomberg.net; Zijing Wu in Hong Kong at zwu17@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Philip Lagerkranser at lagerkranser@bloomberg.net; Michael Tighe at mtighe4@bloomberg.net

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Alibaba Said to Hire Credit Suisse, Goldman for $4 Billion IPO

Nelson Ching/Bloomberg

Employees work at Alibaba.com Ltd.'s headquarters in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.

Employees work at Alibaba.com Ltd.'s headquarters in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. Photographer: Nelson Ching/Bloomberg