Alibaba's listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Tuesday would ensure that the Chinese e-commerce giant will continue expanding in China, Asia Pacific and globally, said Ronald Wang, an investment banker at Partners Financial Holdings.  
 

Wang said that the flotation exercise would add another 100 billion Hong Kong dollars (12 million U.S. dollars) to the 234 billion Hong Kong dollars (30 billion U.S. dollars) currently in its accounts. 

"This provides a lot of bullets for the company. We foresee a lot more global M&As (mergers and acquisitions) in the future," said Wang. 

Alibaba in its prospectus, he noted, aims to broaden its user base and to add more digital elements to the business for its clients. Alibaba had said its strategic goals for the next five years will be to serve more global customers, of which one billion will be Chinese consumers, and facilitate more than 10 trillion yuan (1.42 trillion U.S. dollars).

"I see maybe some value-add, like AI. The total client base will expand from China to the rest of the world," he said.  

Alibaba listing a show of confidence  

Alibaba successfully listed today despite ongoing protests in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), and surged up to 7.56 percent within the first hour of trading. The listing is believed to be the biggest stock float so far in 2019. 

On the significance of the listing and the positive demand, Wang said the listing of the 20-year-old company is meaningful in several ways, including returning confidence to Hong Kong as a financial center.   

It is a win-win for both the company and Hong Kong. 

"This marks an Alibaba that has transformed itself into a multinational global tech giant. This can broaden the investor base of the company and broaden the capital market transaction base in the future," said Wang.  

Wang added that he expects to see more Chinese, especially tech companies, listings in Hong Kong, and subsequently more investors seeking investment opportunities.