Alibaba IPO biggest ever after additional shares sold: source

Staff of the Alibaba group celebrating as Alibaba stock goes live on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange, in the company's Hangzhou headquarters, Zhejiang province on Sept 19, 2014. Alibaba has reportedly become the biggest IPO in history after an additional 48 additional shares were sold - AFP Photo.

HONG KONG: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and some of its shareholders have sold an additional 48 million shares, a source with direct knowledge of the deal said on Monday, making its IPO the biggest-ever globally at a value of US$25.03bil.

The move comes after the stock surged 38% in its debut on Friday as investors jostled for a piece of the e-commerce company.

Alibaba and several shareholders initially sold 320.1 million American Depositary Shares in its offering, which was priced at US$68 each last week. Underwriters had the option to sell additional shares from Alibaba, Yahoo Inc and Alibaba co-founders Jack Ma and Joe Tsai, according to the IPO prospectus.

The source declined to be identified as the details of the additional sale have yet to be made official.

Representatives for Alibaba in Hong Kong did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the sale of the additional shares. – Reuters