Alibaba hires two for 'Project Avatar'

摘要

Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley have begun working on the listing of alibaba group under the code name "Project Avatar", according to two people with knowledge of the situation. One of the people said the work on the IPO for the Chinese e-commerce company was "not advanced" and involved only "preliminary stuff", including establishing the ideal timing for the listing and the appropriate listing venue. But they acknowledged that the two banks were best positioned to win the official IPO mandate when that was confirmed. No banks have been officially mandated on the deal yet, the people said.