Chinese online giant Alibaba is
expected to set the price of its shares later in what could be a
record-breaking initial public offering (IPO).
Alibaba could raise between $22bn
(£13.5bn) and $25bn when it lists its shares in New York.
The previous record IPO was set by
Agricultural Bank of China's $22.1bn listing in 2010.
Alibaba said in an official filing on
Monday that it expected to price its shares at between $66 and $68 a share.
The increase suggested demand for the
firm's shares is high.
The listing could give Alibaba a
total value of about $200bn, which would make it the third most valuable tech
firm in the world after Google and Facebook.
The online retailer, which accounts
for 80% of all online retail sales in China, handles more transactions than
Amazon and eBay combined.
Alibaba acts an online marketplace
for wholesalers, retailers, and small businesses, and handles e-payments and
financial transactions.
The company has also branched out
into cloud computing and instant messaging.
The firm made a profit of almost $2bn
in the three months to the end of June, with sales up by 46% year-on-year to
$2.54bn.
Alibaba plans to use the proceeds
from the listing to expand in the US and Europe, founder Jack Ma said on
Monday.
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