Alibaba's HiChina plans $200m IPO

An internet infrastructure service provider controlled by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has announced plans to raise up to US$200 million in an initial public offering on a US exchange, the Wall Street Journal reported quoting people familiar with the situation. HiChina, which offers domain name, hosting, cloud-based services and website building for small- and medium-sized enterprises, has hired Credit Suisse (CS.NYSE) and Morgan Stanley (MS.NYSE) to handle the listing plan, said the people. Hong Kong-listed Alibaba.com Ltd (1688.HKG), which in 2009 bought an 85% stake in HiChina Group for US$79 million, confirmed Monday that the unit was planning to list in the US, but did not provide a timeline. The listing may force the government’s hand on a new initiative to crack down on Variable Interest Entities, or VIEs, a corporate structure that has allowed companies in China’s internet sector, which is technically closed to foreign capital, to gain access to fundraising opportunities on foreign exchanges.