Alibaba Group Holding (BABA.NASDAQ) and shareholders sold 320.1 million shares at US$68 (RMB417.55) each, raising US$21.8 billion in an initial public offering that values the company at US$167.6 billion, making it the largest IPO by any company in the US, Bloomberg reported. The Chinese e-commerce giant’s ability to close a deal of this size is owed to an almost non-stop rallly in shares in the US, where about US$15 trillion had been added to the value of equities amid three rounds of monetary stimulus from the Federal Reserve, an expanding economy and record profits. The IPO comes after an attempted listing in Hong Kong, where rules don’t allow the for the company’s governance structure – a small group of insiders at Alibaba control its board.
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