Alibaba set to snub US with HK listing Alibaba is prepared to shun US markets and pursue its highly anticipated listing solely in Hong Kong, dealing a blow to global exchanges keen to host what is likely to be the biggest initial public offering this year. China's biggest ecommerce company is expected to list at the earliest in the final quarter of this year and could be valued at $60bn-$70bn. The company said it had not yet appointed banks to run the listing process and has made no final decision on its listing venue. However, bankers from three different institutions in the US and Asia that were in talks with Alibaba about its plans said a US listing was almost certainly off the table. "Nothing is absolutely definitive and they are running a very secretive process, but everything they are planning for is Hong Kong related," said one. One of the main reasons Alibaba did not want to list in the US was the weight of regulatory and accounting standards it would have to deal with, according to bankers. One banker said it was a matter of pride for the large Chinese company that it would not want to submit so much information to US regulators to review. Another banker noted that the company's senior management wanted to make a "cultural point" by listing solely in Hong Kong. Alibaba previously had listed its business-to-business sales arm Alibaba.com in Hong Kong before again taking it private last year in preparation for a listing of the whole group. Bankers and analysts had widely expected that the internet company would at least seek a dual listing in the US, where markets are much larger with many more investors, and where technology companies have been given high valuations. Alibaba became convinced that most of the important, tech-savvy investors also buy stocks internationally, however, and that both the valuation it wants and the liquidity it requires would be supported in Hong Kong, bankers said. US markets have become more difficult for Chinese companies since a wave of short selling attacks in 2010 and 2011 tarnished the sector and left many companies trading at low valuations and looking for backers to help them delist. More than $7bn worth of deals to take Chinese companies private from US exchanges have been completed in the past two years, including the recently announced buyouts of Focus Media and AsiaInfo. So far this year no Chinese companies have listed in the US after just two listed in 2012, according to data from Dealogic. That compares with a total of 54 China-based companies that raised more than $6bn on the US market in 2011 and 2012.