Alibaba IPO Roadshow Launched: Attract 800 Investors For The First Time

According to a participant, 800 investors participated in the roadshow. Another participant said that Alibaba provided fast food in the roadshow that day, followed by a video demonstration, which was introduced by Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba Group. Finally, investors were able to ask questions of Alibaba CFO Wu Wei and Vice Chairman Cai Chongxin.

　　 Alibaba Nearly 10 days of roadshows will be held to try to attract demand for this record IPO (initial public offering). The company plans to sell US $21.1 billion of shares at a valuation of US $162.7 billion in this IPO. This will also make Alibaba the third largest Internet company listed in the United States, after Google and Facebook.

However, Alibaba still has more work to do to attract more investors to participate in the IPO: two investors who participated in the first day of the roadshow said that they hope Alibaba can disclose more information about its international expansion plan.

　　 Alibaba A spokesman declined to comment.

Yahoo rose

A person familiar with the matter said that at 6:00 a.m. on the day of the roadshow, Alibaba executives came to the headquarters of Citigroup, and 300 Citigroup salespeople received relevant training at that time. By 11:45 a.m., nearly an hour before the roadshow, the hall of Waldorf Hotel was full of people waiting for the formal start of the roadshow luncheon on the 18th floor.

By 12:30 at noon, the queue was still endless, and the meeting was finally postponed for 30 minutes. Yahoo, which will sell $8 billion in the IPO, also saw its share price rise on Monday. The company's stock rose about 5.6% on the same day, more than half of which was achieved after the start of Alibaba's IPO roadshow.

Roadshow process

　　 investor When they were crowded with large meetings, they got a bag of sandwiches and an orange prospectus one after another. Brady Dougan, CEO of Credit Suisse, made an opening introduction, and Ma Yun later came on to introduce the company's vision. However, people familiar with the situation said that Ma Yun would not participate in all roadshows.

Other executives then presented slides and highlighted the data in the prospectus. Iman Khan, head of Credit Suisse Internet Investment Bank, presided over the electronic Q&A session. At the end of the presentation, investors off the stage were able to directly ask questions to Alibaba executives.

But before buying Alibaba shares, investors must fully weigh the risks. The company's corporate governance structure gives 30 partners the right to nominate a majority of directors.

Alibaba has employed 20 investment banks and brokers for the IPO, including JPMorgan Chase, DBS Bank, Mizuho Financial Group, etc. Alibaba will also go to Boston and San Francisco for roadshows this week, and will go to Hong Kong for roadshows next week.

For investors who cannot participate in the roadshow in person, Cai Chongxin and Wu Weiha will promote it through Internet channels. Cai Chongxin is responsible for explaining Alibaba's growth strategy, and Wu Wei is responsible for explaining financial issues.

　 Inquiry method

Alibaba plans to decide the final offering price on September 18, and officially list on the next day.

Alibaba will collect non binding bids from fund managers by investment banks in the form of bookbuilding to determine the specific needs of each price level. According to the prospectus, Alibaba shareholders, including Yahoo, Cai Chongxin and Ma Yun, plan to sell 320.1 million shares at a price of $60 to $66 per share.

Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs Group and Morgan Stanley will also participate in Alibaba's IPO.