CHINESE e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has decided to list on the New York Stock Exchange, dealing a blow to the rival NASDAQ bourse.

    Alibaba, which handles more than 80 percent of online retail transactions in the world’s second-largest economy, will list under the symbol “BABA,” the company said in an updated initial public offering (IPO) prospectus Friday.

    The firm is expected to make its debut this summer in what could be the largest U.S. tech IPO. It is expected to eclipse Facebook Inc.’s US$15 billion initial share sale in 2012.

    Alibaba would be the largest Chinese company to list on U.S. exchanges by far, with an estimated valuation worth of US$200 billion. Securing its debut marks a major victory for the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), which was acquired by IntercontinentalExchange Inc. for US$11 billion in November.

    “We participated in a comprehensive and deliberate exchange selection process, and we are pleased to welcome Alibaba Group to the New York Stock Exchange,” an NYSE spokesman said.

    The two U.S. exchanges compete fiercely for new listings. NASDAQ easily scored the most tech IPOs every year from 1999 until 2012, when the NYSE had as many. The NYSE pulled ahead last year, and it won the most coveted tech debut of the year, Twitter Inc.

    The reversal has been attributed partly to NASDAQ’s high-profile bungling of Facebook’s market debut in 2012 and partly to changes the NYSE made to its listing standards in 2008 to make it easier for smaller, growing companies to qualify.

    NASDAQ, meanwhile, has made inroads against the NYSE on blue-chip listings, with wins in recent years such as Kraft Foods Group and Texas Instruments. (SD-Agencies)