Alibaba Group Holding Limited raised $11.2 billion despite being located in a city besieged by recession and nearly six months of political unrest. Alibaba’s shares jumped over 6% as it debuted Tuesday morning on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and at market close finished with a gain of 6.6% for the day.
“I congratulate Alibaba for taking the step of listing in Hong Kong at a time when many people have lost confidence […] in what is happening in Hong Kong as a market”, Mary Manning, portfolio manager at Ellerston Capital, told CNBC. Many buyers of Alibaba shares in Hong Kong were institutional investors and fund houses from mainland China.
Obviously Alibaba (Jack Ma’s creation) had no real alternative to the Hong Kong stock exchange. Speculation remains that Jack Ma was forced to step down because he had become “too powerful and influential” and represented a challenge to the authority of China’s top leadership. His technology empire remains under strict government control.
