According to anonymous sources familiar with the matter, the highly anticipated IPO of Alibaba Group of China would be led by Credit Suisse. This lead position is very much coveted in the industry as the position would allow for the collection of massive fees for the bank.
Currently, banks are positioning themselves to become the lead bookrunner for the IPO. The said IPO of the Chinese retail website may occur as early as the end of 2013. The said IPO is expected to be near the numbers of the Facebook IPO, which was a US$16 billion transaction that was held last year.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd still has not officially announced the holding of the IPO, but people familiar with the plans say that the company has held many high level meetings with investment banks in the past few weeks.
The gravity of the IPO has made many banks fly over its top executives, such as Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat to meet with Alibaba's executive management team.
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