Bloomberg just published a latest update on Alibaba’s IPO, reporting that Alibaba is seeking to raise up nearly to US$1.5 billion in an IPO. This is due to the increased of Alibaba’s per share price at HK$12 to HK$13.50 in Hong Kong, up nearly 20% of the previous IPO price, i.e. HK$10 to HK$12 per share. The strong demand from institutional investors has largely affected the total amount of this IPO.

Alibaba.com is selling a combined 858.9 million shares, or 17% of its stake.

Alibaba, dubbed itself as the “world largest marketplace for global trade” has won the approval to trade on Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the IPO (Initial Public Offering) estimated to approx. $1 billion, according to the report of Reuters. It is very important for an entrepreneurial firm such as Alibaba to go public and raise more capital from the stock market.

Alibaba Group, partly owned by Yahoo! plans its B2B (business-to-business) operation, Alibaba.com as their major part of the IPO. Its B2B business helped Alibaba named as “Best of the Web: B2B” by Forbes magazine for seven consecutive years. Moreover, Alibaba had more than 24 million registered members from more than 200 countries. Its premium memberships include China and domestic Suppliers, Gold Supplier Membership and TrustPass Membership, all required to pay a certain amount of annual fee, i.e. from few hundred to few thousand to Alibaba and these membership fees accountable for Alibaba’s revenue, besides the charge of value-added services, advertisement and listing fees.

Alibaba will launch its share offering in this month, with the listing expected in later October or early November. Underwriters selected to manage the offering included Deutsche Bank AG, Goldman Sachs Group and Morgan Stanley.