The share sale adds to a pattern of a vigorous Hong Kong and wider Asian stock market, particularly around capital-raising. This trend is also an important source of new HNW individuals and can contrast with the sometimes weaker pattern in regions such as Europe.

Alibaba Group, the Chinese online retail group which is also involved in financial services, has added further to the world’s IPO and share placement market. 

The group raised HK$80 billion ($10.2 billion) on the Hong Kong equity market in what media reports called the Asian city’s biggest follow-on offering. 

In a statement yesterday, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, which is also quoted on the New York Stock Exchange, announced it was pricing its HK80 billion of 710 million newly-issued ordinary shares to non-US persons outside the US, at a price of $112.7 per share. The placement is expected to close on Wednesday, subject to customary closing conditions, Alibaba said.

Shares in the group fell as much as 10 per cent yesterday. The deal was priced at a 3.6 per cent discount to the Friday close of Alibaba’s US-traded shares (Bloomberg, Reuters, other). Alibaba recently reported a 75 per cent slump in second-quarter net income. Reports said heavy AI spending, among other factors, depressed the result. 

Bloomberg, citing its own data, said Alibaba’s placement is Hong Kong’s biggest share sale since technology-investment firm Prosus NV sold $14.7 billion in shares of China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd in 2021.

IPO activity in Hong Kong has been busy this year. HKEX, the exchange and clearing group and parent of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, said companies raised HK$210.2 billion through IPOs in the first half of 2026, surging by 92 per cent om a year before. The number of new listings rose to 87 in the first six months of 2026, almost doubling (98 per cent). IPOs are important sources of new HNW individuals. 

Alibaba has a financial services arm, Ant Group.