BEIJING, September 26 (TMTPost)— Cainiao Smart Logistics is set to be the first Alibaba’s unit that goes public after the Chinese internet giant went through its biggest ever organization overhaul.

Credit：Cainiao

Alibaba plans to spin off Cainiao through the arm’s separate listing in Hong Kong, according to a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) on Tuesday. Alibaba said it has submitted a spinoff plan to the exchange and there is no assurance that the spinoff will take place. Cainiao is a group provides supply chain, logistics and delivery services that Alibaba holds a 69.54% stakes in. If the spinoff proposal approved and completed, Cainiao will remain Alibaba’s subsidiary as the group will continue to hold more than 50% of stakes. A prospectus released Tuesday showed Cainiao has applied for initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, with Citigroup Inc, Citic Securities Co., Ltd and JPMorgan Chase & Co as joint sponsors.

Cainiao didn’t the planned size of its first share sale. Bloomberg cited people familiar with the matter last week that the company aims to raise at least US$1 billion through the listing. It’s early to decide Cainiao’s IPO valuation as it hasn’t made final decision and details could change, the people said.

Earlier this month, Alibaba's surprising management shuffle raised concerns about the listing plan of its cloud unit. Alibaba completed the management transition on September 10, which means from the day on, Joseph Tsai serves as Alibaba’s Chairman and Eddie Yongming Wu became CEO. What was unexpected is that former Alibaba's Chairman and CEO Zhang was also resigned as head of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group. Zhang said in June that a key reason for his quit as company chief is to focus on spin-off of the cloud business.

Alibaba, in a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, said it will proceed with the spinoff plan for Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group that previously announced, and appoint a separate management team for the plan. While the filling suggested Alibaba’s cloud arm would stay committed to its initial public offering (IPO) plan despite Dainel Zhang’s abrupt departure, a Bloomberg report said Alibaba decided to postpone Freshippo’s IPO in Hong Kong due to weak sentiment for consumer stocks. Freshippo was reported to be valued at around US$4 billion through the listing, less than half of its initial valuation target of US$10 billion.  

Alibaba announced in late March to split into six business groups, including Taobao Tmall Group, Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group, Local Services Group, Cainiao Smart Logistics Network Limited, Cloud Intelligence Group, Digital Media and Entertainment Group. Five of these major business groups have the flexibility to raise external capital and potentially to seek its own IPO, with the exception of Taobao & Tmall Group, which will remain wholly-owned by Alibaba Group. Each business group is fully responsible for its performance, with financial independence.

Alibaba said in May that its board of directors approved a full spin-off of the Cloud Intelligence Group via a stock dividend distribution to shareholders, aiming to complete the breakup in the next 12 months and make the group an independent publicly listed firm. The board also approved, to serve as chairman and CEO of the Cloud Intelligence Group, including cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), DingTalk and other businesses. Alibaba plans to include external strategic investors in the cloud business group through private financings prior to the spinoff.

Listing plans about two other business groups also got the nod from Alibaba’s board. Freshippo (Heman), a grocery stores operator under the China commerce segment, is approved to execute an IPO, and expected to be completed in the next 6 to 12 months. Cainiao is approved to explore an IPO with the target to complete the deal in the next 12 to 18 months.

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