CHINESE e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. will begin marketing its much-anticipated U.S. initial public offering (IPO) and go public on the New York Stock Exchange after the U.S. Labor Day holiday Sept. 1, Xinhua reported Friday.

    The marketing roadshow, previously scheduled for late July in New York, London and Hong Kong, will be postponed for “procedural reasons” and to avoid clashing with Wall Street’s vacation, Xinhua quoted an unnamed source as saying.

    “If not delayed, the roadshow, to last about two weeks, may coincide with Wall Street’s traditional vacation time,” the source said. “Alibaba does not want to make the IPO process too hasty.”

    The firm submitted an updated IPO prospectus featuring an expanded board of directors to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) two weeks ago. It has not received feedback from the SEC yet, according to the source.

    Alibaba may price its IPO about 22 percent below analyst valuations, according to a survey of estimates, a move that could avoid repeating the listing flop of Facebook Inc. The Hangzhou-based company may set the IPO value at US$154 billion, according to the average estimate of five analysts. Those same analysts see the company’s post-listing valuation as US$198 billion.

    Alibaba was expecting to receive another round of comments from the SEC by July 25, and planned to proceed with the roadshow shortly thereafter. (SD-Agencies)