Goodwin Procter advised client DST Global on its recent follow-on investment in the Alibaba Group to help finance Alibaba’s repurchase of shares from Yahoo! and restructure its relationship with the Silicon Valley company. The $7.6 billion raised by Alibaba was the largest ever private financing for a private sector Chinese company and the largest non-LBO financing for a technology company globally. The new equity financing for Alibaba was completed at a valuation of approximately $40 billion.
Goodwin had advised DST on its original co-lead investment in Alibaba Group in 2011.
Based in Hangzhou, China, Alibaba Group has developed leading businesses in consumer e-commerce, online payment, business-to-business marketplaces and cloud computing. Alibaba Group operates Taobao Marketplace, China’s most popular online shopping destination; Tmall.com, China’s leading online platform for merchants offering quality, brand-name goods to consumers; eTao, a comprehensive shopping search engine; Alibaba.com, the leading business-to-business marketplace for small businesses; among other businesses.
“It was gratifying to play a role in helping DST expand its stake in Alibaba Group as part of such a large and complex transaction,” said Yash Rana, chair of Goodwin’s Asia Practice and its Hong Kong office. “We look forward to seeing our client continue to share in Alibaba’s success as one of the world’s leading e-commerce companies.”
The Goodwin deal team that advised DST Global on the transaction was led by Rana and included James Hutchinson, Breck Hancock, and Wilson Lo.
