Alibaba suspends share trading as major announcement looms
SHARES in Alibaba.com were suspended from trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange yesterday as the website’s parent Alibaba Group prepared a statement.
The Chinese e-commerce giant is reportedly planning to buy back the 40 per cent stake Yahoo holds in it, and has been moving towards raising a $3bn (£1.89bn) loan for this purpose.
Billionaire chairman Jack Ma said in a statement to the stock exchange that shares will be suspended “pending clarification of speculation in relation to a transaction… which may be potentially price sensitive.”
Yahoo’s stake in Alibaba could be worth almost $13bn, based on the $1.6bn paid for a five per cent stake in the Chinese company by a group of investors in November.