Alibaba would merit almost a one-fifth discount for poor corporate governance, according to investors who are pushing back against suggestions that Hong Kong could allow unusual shareholding structures – such as Alibaba’s – in an attempt to win new listings.
The finding, in a survey of large global institutional investors published yesterday, comes ahead of the Chinese ecommerce group’s planned listing in New York later this year. Tech stocks around the world have fallen sharply in recent weeks amid fears they are overvalued.
Alibaba is expected to file its initial listing documents in the coming weeks for what would be the biggest public offering since Facebook in 2012.