Chinese online business to business trading platform Alibaba.com (Alibaba) plans to withdraw its listing from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The announcement was made on Feb. 21.

The privatisation of the e-commerce business will occur under a proposed scheme of arrangement where Alibaba Group, the holding company of the online business, will offer up to HK$19.63 million ($2.5 billion) for shares and other securities in Alibaba.com.

The scheme of arrangement is subject to court and shareholder approvals.

According to Reuters, Alibaba said it planned to take the Hong Kong-listed unit private and stressed that the move was not related to any possible deal to buy back shares owned by Yahoo Inc. The company is offering investors HK$13.50 in cash per share, the same price shares were at when the company had its IPO in 2007.

Advising Alibaba on the listing withdrawal is a Hong Kong-based Slaughter and May team led by partner Benita Yu. ALB

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