Alibaba Is Said to Be Close to Raising $8 Billion
阿里巴巴有望达成80亿美元融资

Some American Internet companies may be unpopular with investors these days, but a Chinese one is finding plenty of takers.

当前，美国的一些互联网公司可能不太受投资者的欢迎，但是一家中国公司却得到了不少人的青睐。

The Alibaba Group, a Chinese e-commerce giant, is close to completing a more than $8 billion round of financing that will value it at as much as $43 billion in equity, according to two people briefed on the matter. Alibaba plans to use the bulk of that new money to buy back a 20 percent stake in itself from Yahoo for $7.1 billion. Yahoo owns 40 percent of Alibaba.

据两位知情人士透露，中国电子商务巨头阿里巴巴集团即将完成一轮价值超过80亿美元的融资，其股权价值将因此达到430亿美元。阿里巴巴计划用这些新增资金中的71亿美元从雅虎(Yahoo)手里回购自己公司的20%的股权。雅虎目前拥有阿里巴巴40％的股权。

With its financing nearly in place, Alibaba is prepared not only to solidify its position as the most valuable privately held Internet company but also to take a big step toward separating itself from Yahoo, which has struggled to revive its brand and stock price.

随着融资即将到位，阿里巴巴已经做好准备，不仅要巩固自己作为最有价值的私有互联网公司的地位，而且还要向着脱离雅虎大迈一步。雅虎一直在努力重振公司品牌和股价。

Alibaba's financing round includes a $1.5 billion sale of convertible preferred shares, based on a $43 billion equity valuation for the company, and the sale of $2.6 billion in common shares, at a roughly $35 billion valuation, the people briefed on the matter said. They requested anonymity because the discussions are private. Alibaba is also close to borrowing $4 billion.

消息人士还说，根据阿里巴巴430亿美元的股价估值，公司本轮的融资包括出售了价值15亿美元的可转换优先股， 以及26亿美元的普通股，后者的估价大概为350亿美元。由于谈话是私下进行的，消息人士要求匿名。同时，阿里巴巴还将贷款40亿美元。

The agreement with Yahoo stipulated that Yahoo could receive more than $7.1 billion if its Chinese partner raised money at a significantly higher valuation than it is expected to. Yet because the sale of preferred shares and common shares are subject to certain discounts, Alibaba is still expected to pay close to the original amount.

阿里巴巴与雅虎的协议规定，如果阿里巴巴能以大大高于预期的估价筹到资金，雅虎将得到超过71亿美元。然而，因为优先股和普通股的出售可能有折扣，阿里巴巴最终支付的金额预计仍将与原定价格相近。

Still, that price represents a big return on Yahoo's investment.

不管怎样，这个价格仍是雅虎投资的一个巨额回报。

Yahoo invested $1 billion in Alibaba about seven years ago, gaining a 40 percent stake in what was then seen as a promising Chinese start-up company.

大约七年前，雅虎向阿里巴巴投资10亿美元，获得了40%的股份。当时，这家处于初创阶段的中国公司非常被看好。

Now the Alibaba 40 percent stake makes up more than half of Yahoo's $20 billion market value. Under the agreement hashed out in May, Yahoo will sell back another 10 percent of Alibaba shares when the Chinese company goes public and divest itself of the rest at later date.

现在，阿里巴巴40%的股份几乎占了雅虎200亿美元市值的一半还多。经过长时间磋商，协议终于在5月份出炉。协议规定，阿里巴巴上市后，雅虎还将再出售其10％的股权，并最终售出剩余的所有阿里巴巴的股票。

Shares of Yahoo fell nearly 1 percent on Monday to close at $15.98 per share.

本周一，雅虎的股价下跌了将近1%，收盘价格为每股15.98美元。

The two companies have butted heads a number of times in recent years. Alibaba's decision in 2010 to spin off its Alipay online payment business prompted protests from Yahoo that it had not been properly consulted. The dispute was not settled until last summer.

近年来，两家公司频繁发生矛盾。2010年，阿里巴巴决定分拆其支付宝在线支付服务，雅虎认为该决定没有与其充分沟通，因此表示不满。直到去年夏天这场纠纷才得到解决。

Alibaba has long sought to buy back Yahoo's interest in itself, though attempts to reach an agreement fell apart many times. Irritated that Yahoo was considering selling a minority stake in itself to investor groups last year, Alibaba threatened to wage a hostile takeover attempt to try to forestall such a possibility. The American company eventually abandoned the idea.

阿里巴巴长期以来一直试图回购雅虎所持的股权，虽然几次尝试达成协议最后都以失败告终。雅虎去年曾经考虑将自己的少数股份出售给一些投资公司，此举激怒了阿里巴巴，导致后者威胁说要发起恶意收购以阻止这种情况的发生。最终，雅虎打消了这个念头。

Alibaba is raising billions of dollars from a patchwork of international backers. Nearly a dozen investors, including hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds, mutual funds and private equity firms, will buy the preferred shares, these people said. The China Investment Corporation, that country's sovereign wealth fund, will participate in the purchase of the common shares. The China Development Bank, is expected to provide a substantial portion of the loan to Alibaba.

阿里巴巴数十亿美元的融资来自多家国际投资者。据这些投资人透露，包括对冲基金、主权财富基金、共同基金以及私募股权公司在内的将近12家投资机构将会购买优先股。中国投资有限责任公司（中国国家主权财富基金）将会收购普通股。中国国家开发银行将为阿里巴巴提供所需的大部分贷款。

Joseph C. Tsai, Alibaba's chief financial officer, who has led the company's fund-raising efforts, tried to limit the financing round to a small group of investors to restrict access to Alibaba's financial information, one of the people briefed on the financing matter said.

据一位熟悉公司财务事宜的人士透露，负责阿里巴巴筹资的首席财务官员蔡崇信(Joseph C. Tsai)试图在小范围内的投资者中进行融资，限制阿里巴巴财务信息的外泄。

The rapid rise of Alibaba, a collection of Chinese consumer and business-to-business e-commerce sites, illustrates how quickly momentum can shift on the global Web. Seven years ago, the company was eager for a capital infusion amid intensifying competition from domestic and international rivals like eBay, which owned an online auction site named Eachnet. In 2004, the year before Yahoo's investment, Alibaba recorded just $68 million in revenue.

阿里巴巴旗下拥有许多中国消费者网站及B2B电子商务网站，它的迅速崛起显示了全球互联网商务的格局会怎样地风云突变。七年前，阿里巴巴还面临激烈竞争，急需输血。当时有许多国内和国际竞争对手，比如拥有竞拍网站易趣网(Eachnet)的eBay。为了在激烈的竞争中得以生存，阿里巴巴迫切需要扩充资本。2004年，在雅虎投资前一年，阿里巴巴收入只有6800万美元。

Since then, Alibaba's sales have swelled.

之后，阿里巴巴销售量不断增长。

In the first half of this year, Alibaba recorded a little more than $1.8 billion in revenue, more than 60 percent more than in the year-earlier period, people with knowledge of the matter said.

据消息人士透露，阿里巴巴今年上半年收益超过18亿美元，同比增长60%以上。

In contrast, Yahoo has fallen nearly as swiftly. In early 2008, Yahoo spurned a takeover offer from Microsoft - a bid that valued it at roughly $45 billion. Since then, Yahoo's slumping advertising sales have slumped and it has lost market share to companies like Google and Facebook. Its shares, since its Alibaba investment, have lost more than half their value.

相比之下，雅虎却几乎以同样的速度衰退。2008年初，微软出价大约450亿美元收购雅虎，但遭到雅虎拒绝。之后，雅虎低迷的广告销售继续下滑，市场份额被谷歌、Facebook等公司抢占。在投资阿里巴巴之后，雅虎股价下跌超过50%。

In an effort to appease investors, Yahoo has said the proceeds of Alibaba's purchase will be returned to shareholders, possibly through a share buyback program.

为了安抚投资者，雅虎表示阿里巴巴股权回售的收益将会返还给股东，有可能通过股份回购实现。

Alibaba is expected to complete the repurchase of the 20 percent stake in the beginning of the fourth quarter.