(Yicai) Aug. 23 -- Alibaba Group Holding has converted its secondary listing in Hong Kong to a dual-primary one, shared with its listing on the New York bourse. This will give the Chinese internet titan access to the Hong Kong stock connect program whereby mainland investors can buy stocks on the Hong Kong bourse. Southbound inflows could reach USD12 billion in the first six months, US investment giant Morgan Stanley said.

Alibaba will be dual-primary listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange on Aug. 28, the Hangzhou-based company said. This means that Alibaba will be subject to the full rules of the Hong Kong stock exchange as well as those of New York.

The dual-primary listing in Hong Kong does not involve the issuance of new shares nor additional fundraising, it added.

If Alibaba completes its primary listing by the end of August, its inclusion in the Hong Kong Stock Connect is expected to be confirmed on Sept. 4, announced on Sept. 6, and to take effect when the market opens on Sept. 9, Morgan Stanley said in a recent report.

Around USD12 billion could flow into Alibaba’s Hong Kong-listed stock in the first six months from the mainland after it is included in the stock connect program, Morgan Stanley said based on its analysis of other companies such as life services giant Meituan as well as electric car startups Li Auto and Xpeng Motors that joined the program. In the longer term, the holdings of southbound funds could stabilize at around 10 percent.

Alibaba’s weighted voting right structure is no longer an obstacle to its inclusion in the Hong Kong Stock Connect program, New York-based Morgan Stanley said. ZTO Express became the first company with a weighted voting right structure to be included in the stock connect scheme in March after the Hong Kong bourse relaxed the secondary listing requirements in 2021.

Alibaba’s net profit plunged 27 percent in the three months ended June 30 from a year earlier to CNY24 billion (USD3.3 million), while revenue climbed 4 percent to CNY243.2 billion (USD33.5 billion).

Editor: Kim Taylor