阿里巴巴擬週三提前結束新股認購

The Alibaba Group’s initial public offering was long expected to be a blockbuster. But a flood of orders for shares in the Chinese e-commerce giant has proved stronger than expected.

阿里巴巴集團的首次公開募股(IPO)早就被認爲會造成轟動。果不其然，對這家中國電子商務巨頭股票的認購需求勢如潮水，超越了預期。

Only five days into the company’s global journey to promote itself to prospective buyers, its underwriters have told their sales staffs that they plan to close orders for the stock sale by Wednesday, people briefed on the matter said on Friday.

阿里巴巴向潛在買家推介自己的全球路演之旅剛剛進行了五天，承銷商即告訴負責銷售的員工，計劃於週三停止接受對該集團股票的認購。這一消息由知情人士於上週五透露。

And with that intense interest — shown by the huge lines of investors who waited to spend even an hour with Alibaba’s senior management — comes the possibility that the company’s bankers may eventually raise the price range for the offering, pushing it past a fund-raising goal of $21.1 billion.

投資者對阿里巴巴興趣濃厚，等待與集團高管見上哪怕一個小時的人排起了長龍。因此，公司聘請的投行有可能會最終提高價格區間，使籌資額超越之前設定的211億美元（約合1296億元人民幣）目標。

That could make Alibaba the biggest initial offering in history, surpassing the $22.1 billion that the Agricultural Bank of China raised four years ago. But the people briefed on the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, cautioned that no plans had been set and that the price range might remain within the already disclosed $60 to $66 a share, which values the company at roughly $163 billion at the high end.

這樣，阿里巴巴上市或許會成爲史上規模最大的IPO，一舉打破四年前中國農業銀行創下的221億美元的紀錄。不過，要求不具名的知情人士謹慎指出，目前並未定下相關計劃，價格區間可能會保持在此前披露的每股60至66美元。按照這一區間的高端計算，公司估值約爲1630億美元。

A final decision will be made next Thursday, when underwriters are expected to price the offering after examining its order book. Alibaba would then begin trading the next day on the New York Stock Exchange.

最終決定將於週四做出，屆時，承銷商將對認購額進行盤點，並設定發行價。接下來的一天，阿里巴巴將在紐約證券交易所(New York Stock Exchange)上市交易。

Driving any possible bump in price is strong demand from investors eager to buy a piece of China’s biggest e-commerce operator. Alibaba, which is an amalgam of eBay, Amazon and Google, has positioned itself as a gateway to a Chinese population that is increasingly and quickly going online to shop, reaping huge growth in profits and margins along the company’s underwriters told their sales staffs on Friday that the stock offering was already oversubscribed, with “no sensitivity” to the existing price range. That suggests that the banks may feel comfortable raising the price of the offering, as happened in other big initial offerings like those of General Motors and Facebook.

推動價格可能攀升的原因是，投資者渴望從中國最大的電商碗中分一杯羹，認購需求強勁。阿里巴巴類似於eBay、亞馬遜(Amazon)和谷歌(Google)的集合體，已將自己打造成通往快速增長的中國網上消費者的一扇大門，盈利一路飆升。承銷商周五告訴銷售人員，阿里巴巴的股票已獲超額認購，而且認購者對目前的價格區間“不敏感”。這表明，承銷投行或許會樂於提高發行價，與通用汽車(General Motors)和Facebook等其他一些大宗IPO一樣。

But the banks are wary of pushing the price range too far, potentially scaring off investors, some of the people briefed on the matter said.

不過，部分知情人士稱，承銷商對過度推高發行價有所顧慮，擔心可能會嚇跑投資者。

Since Alibaba began its roadshow on Monday, money managers ranging from huge mutual funds to big-name hedge funds have clamored for an audience with executives including the company’s chairman and co-founder, Jack Ma. More than 800 people attended an invitation-only lunchtime presentation at the Waldorf-Astoria in Midtown Manhattan, with some others turned away for lack of space.

自從阿里巴巴上週一啓動路演以來，從大型共同基金到著名對衝基金的投資人均競相與阿里巴巴的董事局主席和聯合創始人馬雲(Jack Ma)等高管會面。逾800人出席了在曼哈頓中城華道夫-阿斯多利亞酒店(Waldorf-Astoria)舉行的一場僅面向受邀者的午宴推介活動。還有其他一些人因爲空間不足而吃了閉門羹。

Other presentations across the country this week were smaller but no less packed. A gathering with Fidelity Investments portfolio managers and executives in Boston on Tuesday, for example, drew more than 100 attendees, according to people at the event.

上週在美國各地舉行的其他宣講活動在規模上比曼哈頓中城的午餐推介活動小，但現場的爆滿程度卻並不遜色。比如，親歷了週二在波士頓舉行的一場活動的人士稱，阿里巴巴攜富達投資(Fidelity Investments)的投資組合經理和高管舉行的那場活動吸引了100多人蔘加。

Many hedge fund magnates, including Daniel S. Loeb of Third Point, have sought out one-on-one meetings with the Chinese company’s management, according to people with direct knowledge of the roadshow scheduling. But Alibaba’s underwriters have allotted fewer than 40 of the roughly 100 planned meetings to individual firms.

據對路演行程安排有第一手瞭解的人士稱，包括Third Point的丹尼爾·S·勒布(Daniel S. Loeb)在內的許多對衝基金巨頭，已請求與這家中國公司的管理層進行一對一的見面。但在計劃的約100場見面活動中，阿里巴巴的承銷商只將其中不到40場分給了單一公司。

Most of those meetings will go to the institutional investors considered crucial to the offering’s success, including mutual fund giants like BlackRock and Fidelity and sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East and l, prominent hedge fund managers have gotten an intimate audience with the company. Mr. Loeb and several other investors — including David A. Tepper of Appaloosa Management, Louis M. Bacon of Moore Capital Management and Chris Shumway of Shumway Capital — attended a private lunch with Alibaba executives on Wednesday, according to people with direct knowledge of the schedule.

這些會面活動中，大部分的對象是被視爲對此次IPO的成功至關重要的機構投資者，包括貝萊德(BlackRock)和富達等共同基金巨頭，以及中東和亞洲的主權財富基金。而知名對衝基金經理已同阿里巴巴進行了近距離接觸。對相關安排有第一手瞭解的人士稱，週三，勒布和其他幾名投資者——包括阿帕盧薩資產管理公司(Appaloosa Management)的戴維·A·泰佩爾(David A. Tepper)、摩爾資本管理公司(Moore Capital Management)的劉易斯·M·培根(Louis M. Bacon)以及沙姆韋資本(Shumway Capital)的克里斯·沙姆韋(Chris Shumway)——與阿里巴巴的高管一同出席了一場私人午宴。

Several of those investors, Mr. Loeb and Mr. Tepper among them, walked away with good impressions of the management team, some of these people said.

部分知情人士稱，包括勒布和泰佩爾在內的其中幾名投資者，在離開時對阿里巴巴管理團隊的印象頗好。

Representatives of Alibaba and the hedge funds declined to comment or were not available for comment.

阿里巴巴和相關對衝基金的代表要麼拒絕置評，要麼分身乏術，無法置評。

If any of these investors have not placed orders for shares in the company, they will have only a few more days to do so. In their communications to the sales staffs, the underwriters said that they would stop accepting orders from investors in the United States by Tuesday at 4 p.m. Asian investors have until 4 p.m. Hong Kong time on Wednesday to place their orders, while money managers in Europe have until the close of business in London on Wednesday to submit orders.

如果這些投資者中有人還未認購阿里巴巴的股票，他們只剩幾天時間了。阿里巴巴的承銷商告訴各自的銷售人員，他們將於週二下午4點結束美國的認購活動。亞洲投資者必須在香港時間週三下午4點之前認購，而歐洲的基金經理則必須在週三倫敦交易時段結束之前提交認購訂單。

But investors who have not met with the company’s executives — either in one-on-one gatherings or in small group sessions — by their region’s deadlines will have extra time to file their purchase orders.

不過，在所在地區的截止日期前尚未與阿里巴巴的高管進行過會面的投資者——不管是一對一的會面還是小規模的集體活動——將有更多時間提交認購訂單。