Alibaba could be valued at $163 billion in record listing

NEW YORK/HONG KONG: Alibaba Group Holding, the e-commerce company whose fortunes surged along with China's economy, plans a historic US initial public offering that may also claim the global record.

Alibaba is seeking a valuation of as much as $162.7 billion, larger than 95% of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, as it enters the IPO's final stages. At the high end of the proposed price range, Alibaba would be the third-most valuable Internet company traded in the US after Google and Facebook.The offering could raise as much as $21.1 billion, according to a September 5 regulatory filing.

Even at the high end, the valua tion falls below more optimistic estimates of Aliba ba's worth -anal ysts surveyed in July put its value at $187 billion, on average. That will give China's large st e-commerce company room to raise the IPO price as it builds de mand during meet ings with fund managers, said Henry Guo, an anaital. lyst at JG Capital.

“This is below Wall Street's expectations,“ said Guo, who is based in San Francisco. “They prefer a smoother start so that they can push up the prices.“

Alibaba may temper its valuation, some analysts said in July, which could help it avoid the listing flop of Facebook. Those analysts forecast that Alibaba would value itself at about $154 billion, after applying a discount.

Facebook had a price tag of $104 billion at the time of its IPO in May 2012 and went on to lose half its market value as investors worried about slowing growth and the company's mobile strategy.The stock has since recovered.

While Alibaba's IPO is coming amid growth in China's e-commerce market, investors now must weigh the risks of buying shares in the Hangzhou-based company.