By Anna Prior
Chinese Internet giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., filed an
updated prospectus on Monday for its planned initial public
offering, revealing more details about its partnership structure
and financials.
According to the filing, which had been expected, Alibaba said
its partnership structure will have 27 members, including 22
members of management such as Chief Executive Jonathan Zhaoxi Lu,
Executive Chairman Jack Ma, executive vice chairman Joseph Tsai,
and chief operating officer Daniel Yong Zhang.
The partnership will have the exclusive right to nominate up to
a simple majority of board members, according to the filing.
Alibaba also said the SoftBank and Yahoo have agreed to vote
their shares in favor of Alibaba Partnership's nominees.
The board, which will consist of nine members--up from the four
name in the pervious filing--will include Mssrs. Tsai, Ma, Lu and
Zhang, as well as independent directors Chee Hwa Tung, Walter Teh
Ming Kwauk, J. Michael Evans and Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang.
Jacqueline Reses, a board member since December 2012 and Yahoo
chief development officer, will resign, according to the
filing.
The company also provided more details about its operating
results for its segments, saying that transaction volume on its
Taobao site totaled CNY295 billion in the three months ended March
31, up from CNY223 billion a year earlier.
Meanwhile, transaction volume on its Tmall site totaled CNY135
billion for the latest quarter, versus CNY71 billion a year
earlier.
The company didn't disclose what its principal shareholders are
selling in the offering.
Alibaba, which plans to go public in the next few months, and
its banks are responding to some complaints from investors that the
company's initial IPO filing was too vague and didn't give them
enough information to size up the company.
While companies are typically eager to keep investors happy, the
stakes in this case are higher because the company's IPO could be
the biggest ever. The sheer number of shares up for sales means
bankers need to ensure there is deep enough demand from the largest
investors.
Companies often revise IPO documents after the initial filing.
Alibaba is in the process of fielding questions from the Securities
and Exchange Commission, which must approve the document before
shares can be priced and sold.
Before that approval comes, and before the company sets an
expected price range on the stock, the company cannot speak to
investors. Its bankers, however, can talk to investors generally
about the company, though they cannot solicit from investors
whether they would invest, or at what price they would buy in,
according to U.S. rules.
The listing, in New York, is currently being planned for the
first half of August, though the timing isn't set in stone. The
company expects to shop the deal to investors globally, with large
meetings in hubs possibly including Hong Kong, New York and
London.
Telis Demos contributed to this article
Write to Anna Prior at anna.prior@wsj.com
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