Alibaba set to push ahead with Hong Kong listing despite unrest

Alibaba is set to push ahead with the Hong Kong stock market listing despite the unrest in the region and will stop taking orders from investors earlier than expected after attracting strong demand from them.

The e-commerce giant will close its book at midnight on Tuesday, earlier than initially planned.

According to a source cited by CNBC “the book is well-covered. The international offering received strong feedback.”

The Chinese e-commerce giant will issue 500m new ordinary shares plus 75m “greenshoe” options. Of those 500m, around 12.5m will be reserved for retail investors.

According to the Financial Times, before the offering was confirmed last week, a senior bank executive hinted he would be willing to place a large bet against it happening in 2019 due to the size of the listing and the timetable available for it.

Pricing for the IPO is expected on Wednesday and the deal has already attracted orders that are a multiple of the number of shares being offered. In remarks to the FT, some analysts said the violence and unrest have done little to dent investor demand.

Shares of Alibaba will begin trading on 26 of November.