Alibaba IPO Roadshow: Investors Worry About Their Expansion Strategy

The initial public offering (IPO) roadshow has been successfully launched and is expected to exceed $21 billion in financing.

Alibaba founder Ma Yun and other executives went abroad and will conduct IPO promotion in several cities in the next two weeks.

Alibaba has been gratifying in recent years, but some investors are worried about its corporate structure and its focus on serving SMEs.

In the promotion conference, Ma tried to ease investors' anxieties in this regard.

According to recent reports, Alibaba has officially launched its IPO roadshow in the US.

Founder

The Waldorf hotel in New York met with hundreds of hedge fund investors, mutual fund investors and other institutional investors.

In the next two weeks, Alibaba will promote activities in several cities to pave the way for the upcoming IPO.

Alibaba had expected to have 500 investors on the first leg of the roadshow, but the actual attendance reached 800 people, and the scene was crowded.

Alibaba IPO financing is expected to exceed $21 billion, and the stock will sell for $60 -66 US depositary shares.

Alibaba's total valuation is likely to reach $163 billion, becoming one of the largest listed companies in the US and will achieve the biggest IPO paction in the United States.

Industry analysts say Alibaba seeks to make its valuation above $200 billion, making itself among the 20 largest publicly traded companies in the United States.

Alibaba will send two teams to many cities around the world to promote Alibaba shares.

This global recommendation is of great significance, which will enable Alibaba to decide whether to issue shares and exceed its original valuation price.

Some investors told Reuters before and after the meeting that they had a series of concerns about Alibaba, including concerns about the company's management system, pparency and its plans for mergers and acquisitions in the US.

Many investors said they didn't know anything new at lunchtime, but it was obvious that the meeting would be well arranged.

Akram Yosri, the managing partner of 3I Capital Group, an investment company, said he hoped to know how Alibaba would compete with eBay and Amazon in the United States at the meeting.

"Did I learn anything valuable from the meeting?"

He said.

However, he and other investors believe that Ma Yun, founder of Alibaba, is impressive.

Ma once was an English teacher and founded a Alibaba in his apartment.

Some investors call Ma Yun "full of charm".

In his ten minute talk, Ma stressed how Alibaba served SMEs, and how it would solve the problem of corporate governance.

In the past 12 months as of June 30th, Alibaba's trading volume was as high as $296 billion, and the second quarter revenue grew by 46% to $2 billion 540 million.

Although Alibaba's performance is gratifying, there are some problems such as the special structure of the company and the influence of the founders and senior managers.

Ma Yun, founder of the company, has great influence on the board of directors, and this influence may be enhanced after the listing of Alibaba.

In 2010,

The separation from Alibaba was opposed by major shareholders including YAHOO and Softbank.

Ma Yun told investors at the meeting that Alipay's stripping from Alibaba is one of the most difficult decisions, but in the long run, it will be beneficial to the development of the company.

Two investors flew from Toronto, Canada to New York to participate in this conference.

They said they could understand the words of Ma's words: "trust me on this issue."

In addition, other executives of Alibaba also answered questions raised by participants at the meeting held in New York.

The meeting was hosted by Imran Khan, head of global Internet banking at Credit Suisse Group.