Nine banks said chosen as Alibaba seeks US$8b loan

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, China's biggest e-commerce firm, chose banks for a loan of US$8 billion, three people familiar with the matter have said.

Nine lenders are seeking internal approvals to underwrite at least US$500 million each, said the people, naming Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, Citigroup, Credit Suisse Group, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Mizuho Corporate Bank and Morgan Stanley. No mandates have been issued, the people said.

Formed in 1999 as an online marketplace for Chinese companies, Alibaba has grown as economic liberalization spurred a boom in manufacturing and trade. It has expanded its workforce to more than 24,000 and added services including cloud computing, online payments and consumer auctions.

Billionaire founder Jack Ma said in January that he would step down as chief executive officer on May 10, stoking speculation the company may be preparing for an initial public offering.

A Hong Kong-based Alibaba official declined to comment on the loan yesterday.

About US$4 billion of the loan proceeds will refinance a facility of that size signed last year for the privatization of Alibaba's Hong Kong-listed entity Alibaba.com and a buyback of a stake in itself owned by Yahoo! Inc, two other people familiar with the matter said on March 5. The rest would be used for general corporate purposes, one of those people said.

Alibaba borrowed US$4 billion last year that was split into US$2 billion of three-year and four-year loans from China Development Bank and US$2 billion of three-year and four-year loans from global lenders, other sources said at the time.