Alibaba
Alibaba's logo is seen at its headquarters on the outskirts of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province April 23, 2014. Picture taken April 23, 2014. REUTERS/Chance Chan
Alibaba's logo is seen at its headquarters on the outskirts of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province April 23, 2014. Picture taken April 23, 2014. REUTERS/Chance Chan

China's Alibaba Group Holding filed on Wednesday papers for the e-commerce giant to go public in the U.S.

Reports said that Alibaba, established by former English teacher Jack Ma in his Hangzhou flat, has an estimated market value of $168 billion. Based on the valuation and reports that Alibaba plans to sell 12 per cent through the initial public offering, the Chinese giant is expected to raise at least $20 billion.

It would top the $19.65 billion record of Visa's IPO in 2008.

Bloomberg noted that with its $168 billion market value, it would be the second most valuable Internet company after Google, and Alibaba would be larger than 95 per cent of Standard & Poor's 500 Index.

It would take several months before Alibaba completes the process to list publicly and issue its IPO. The Chinese giant has not yet decided whether to list on the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq Stock Market.

Documents filed by Alibaba said that the firm's revenue for the first three quarters of its fiscal year 2013 was $6.51 billion and net income was $2.85 billion.

The IPO, considered as likely the hottest for 2014, would be underwritten by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Credit Suisse.

As of 2013, Alibaba has 8 million active sellers which make up 76.2 per cent of all mobile e-commerce transactions in China, and a peak one-day shipment of 156 million packages in 24 hours.