Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba seeks to raise $21 billion sometime in September, setting the stage for the largest IPO ever. (Reuters)

Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba seeks to raise $21 billion sometime in September, setting the stage for the largest IPO ever. (Reuters)

Tech Industry

Alibaba seeking

$21 billion in IPO

Alibaba Group Holding seeks to raise more than $21 billion in an IPO that will value the Chinese e-commerce giant at up to $163 billion and rank as the largest-ever technology debut in the United States.

Alibaba expects to price its initial public offering at between $60 and $66 per American Depository Share, valuing the company at about $162.69 billion at the top end of the range and raising a maximum of $21.1 billion.

The company founded by former English schoolteacher Jack Ma will decide on its final price after a globe-spanning roadshow that will kick off in New York on Monday and is expected to take in cities from Hong Kong to San Francisco.

Industry analysts had expected Alibaba to try to garner a valuation north of $200 billion, ranking the Chinese company amongst the 20 largest publicly traded U.S. companies. It may eventually price above the initial range, should it deem investor demand sufficient.

Many investors are eager to buy a piece of a Chinese company that handles more e-commerce than Amazon.com and eBay combined. But some investors remain cautious about the potential conflicts of interest between Ma’s role as a steward of the company and his investment interests elsewhere.

The company has also attracted its share of controversy in the past, as when it hived off lucrative payments unit Alipay, triggering objections from major shareholders Yahoo and Softbank.

“When an Internet company of our scale that originated from China enters the global scene, you should expect that it will encounter skepticism from different directions due to differences in cultural perspectives, values and even geopolitical positioning,” Ma said in a letter to investors reminiscent of the “founder’s letters” that accompanied the debuts of Facebook and Google.

— Reuters

TAKEOVER BID

Family Dollar spurnsDollar General again

Family Dollar Stores rejected Dollar General’s sweetened takeover bid, saying the offer still did not address antitrust concerns, raising the prospect that the No. 1 U.S. deep discount chain will go “hostile” with its offer.

Dollar General raised its offer for Family Dollar Stores on Tuesday by 2 percent to $9.1 billion, or $80 per share, and said it was willing to sell up to 1,500 stores to clear any antitrust review.

Dollar General also offered to pay $500 million as break-up fee and warned it might take the offer directly to Family Dollar’s shareholders if it was spurned again.

“There is a very real and material risk that the transaction proposed by Dollar General would fail to close, after a lengthy and disruptive review process,” Family Dollar Chief Executive Howard Levine said in a statement Friday.

Family Dollar last month rebuffed Dollar General’s initial all-cash offer on antitrust concerns and said it would stick with an $8.5 billion, or $74.50 per share, cash-and-stock offer from Dollar Tree.

Dollar General said Friday that it would continue to pursue its smaller rival and was evaluating its next steps.

— Reuters

Also in Business

● Supermarket chain Kroger said Friday that it will hire about 20,000 workers to fill permanent jobs. Kroger is the largest U.S. supermarket operator, running Ralph’s, Fry’s, and other chains. The company had 375,000 full- and part-time employees as of Feb. 1 and says it has created about 40,000 new jobs in the past six years. Kroger said the jobs are now available and said it hopes to fill them as soon as possible. It described them as a mix of full- and part-time positions but did not offer more details.

● The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission decided not to appeal a recent court decision that said victims of financier Allen Stanford’s Ponzi scheme were not eligible under federal law to file claims to recoup their losses, a spokesman for the regulator said Friday. On July 18, a federal appeals court in Washington let stand a lower court ruling rejecting the SEC’s effort to force the Securities Investor Protection Corp, which oversees failed brokerages, to start court proceedings on behalf of victims of the fraud at Stanford Group.

● Detroit residents are “highly taxed” and imposing even higher taxes wouldn’t be a good way to take the city out of bankruptcy, CFO John Hill testified Friday. He wrapped up his testimony at a trial that will determine whether Detroit emerges from the largest public bankruptcy in U.S. history. The trial began Tuesday and will last for weeks. Detroit’s plan includes cutting $12 billion in debt to about $5 billion and spending $1.7 billion over the next decade on quality-of-life improvements, especially demolition of thousands of abandoned homes. Many retirees would see a 4.5 percent pension cut. No tax increases are planned.

● Four tech companies including Apple and Google are appealing a judge’s rejection of a $324.5 million settlement for a class-action lawsuit brought by more than 60,000 high-tech workers. The lawsuit alleged that Google and Apple conspired with the other technology companies to block some of their employees from getting better job offers. A settlement was reached in April, but U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh ruled last month that it wasn’t enough money. Now Apple, Google, Adobe Systems and Intel are appealing that ruling. Judge Koh is proposing that a trial start Jan. 12 or March 9. Google declined to comment. Apple, Adobe Systems and Intel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.●

— From news services

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