阿里巴巴拟周三提前结束新股认购

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.

阿里巴巴集团的首次公开募股(IPO)早就被认为会造成轰动。果不其然，对这家中国电子商务巨头股票的认购需求势如潮水，超越了预期。

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.

阿里巴巴向潜在买家推介自己的全球路演之旅刚刚进行了五天，承销商即告诉负责销售的员工，计划于周三停止接受对该集团股票的认购。这一消息由知情人士于上周五透露。

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.

投资者对阿里巴巴兴趣浓厚，等待与集团高管见上哪怕一个小时的人排起了长龙。因此，公司聘请的投行有可能会最终提高价格区间，使筹资额超越之前设定的211亿美元（约合1296亿元人民币）目标。

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.

这样，阿里巴巴上市或许会成为史上规模最大的IPO，一举打破四年前中国农业银行创下的221亿美元的纪录。不过，要求不具名的知情人士谨慎指出，目前并未定下相关计划，价格区间可能会保持在此前披露的每股60至66美元。按照这一区间的高端计算，公司估值约为1630亿美元。

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.

最终决定将于周四做出，届时，承销商将对认购额进行盘点，并设定发行价。接下来的一天，阿里巴巴将在纽约证券交易所(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.

推动价格可能攀升的原因是，投资者渴望从中国最大的电商碗中分一杯羹，认购需求强劲。阿里巴巴类似于eBay、亚马逊(Amazon)和谷歌(Google)的集合体，已将自己打造成通往快速增长的中国网上消费者的一扇大门，盈利一路飙升。承销商周五告诉销售人员，阿里巴巴的股票已获超额认购，而且认购者对目前的价格区间“不敏感”。这表明，承销投行或许会乐于提高发行价，与通用汽车(General Motors)和Facebook等其他一些大宗IPO一样。

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.

不过，部分知情人士称，承销商对过度推高发行价有所顾虑，担心可能会吓跑投资者。

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.

自从阿里巴巴上周一启动路演以来，从大型共同基金到著名对冲基金的投资人均竞相与阿里巴巴的董事局主席和联合创始人马云(Jack Ma)等高管会面。逾800人出席了在曼哈顿中城华道夫-阿斯多利亚酒店(Waldorf-Astoria)举行的一场仅面向受邀者的午宴推介活动。还有其他一些人因为空间不足而吃了闭门羹。

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.

上周在美国各地举行的其他宣讲活动在规模上比曼哈顿中城的午餐推介活动小，但现场的爆满程度却并不逊色。比如，亲历了周二在波士顿举行的一场活动的人士称，阿里巴巴携富达投资(Fidelity Investments)的投资组合经理和高管举行的那场活动吸引了100多人参加。

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.

据对路演行程安排有第一手了解的人士称，包括Third Point的丹尼尔·S·勒布(Daniel S. Loeb)在内的许多对冲基金巨头，已请求与这家中国公司的管理层进行一对一的见面。但在计划的约100场见面活动中，阿里巴巴的承销商只将其中不到40场分给了单一公司。

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.

这些会面活动中，大部分的对象是被视为对此次IPO的成功至关重要的机构投资者，包括贝莱德(BlackRock)和富达等共同基金巨头，以及中东和亚洲的主权财富基金。而知名对冲基金经理已同阿里巴巴进行了近距离接触。对相关安排有第一手了解的人士称，周三，勒布和其他几名投资者——包括阿帕卢萨资产管理公司(Appaloosa Management)的戴维·A·泰佩尔(David A. Tepper)、摩尔资本管理公司(Moore Capital Management)的刘易斯·M·培根(Louis M. Bacon)以及沙姆韦资本(Shumway Capital)的克里斯·沙姆韦(Chris Shumway)——与阿里巴巴的高管一同出席了一场私人午宴。

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.

部分知情人士称，包括勒布和泰佩尔在内的其中几名投资者，在离开时对阿里巴巴管理团队的印象颇好。

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

阿里巴巴和相关对冲基金的代表要么拒绝置评，要么分身乏术，无法置评。

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.

如果这些投资者中有人还未认购阿里巴巴的股票，他们只剩几天时间了。阿里巴巴的承销商告诉各自的销售人员，他们将于周二下午4点结束美国的认购活动。亚洲投资者必须在香港时间周三下午4点之前认购，而欧洲的基金经理则必须在周三伦敦交易时段结束之前提交认购订单。

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.

不过，在所在地区的截止日期前尚未与阿里巴巴的高管进行过会面的投资者——不管是一对一的会面还是小规模的集体活动——将有更多时间提交认购订单。