Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd, China's biggest e-commerce company, is reported on Bloomberg to have hired Credit Suisse Group AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc to arrange an initial public offering, which could raise $3 billion to 4 billion in Hong Kong this year.

John Spelich, a Hong Kong-based spokesman for Alibaba, declined to comment on the report, which quoted sources close to the company.

Alibaba agreed last May to buy back about half of Yahoo's 40 percent stake in the Hangzhou-based company for about $7.1 billion. Yahoo acquired the shares in 2005 in exchange for $1 billion and ownership of Yahoo's Chinese operations.

China Daily - Agencies

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