Alibaba Group on Wednesday announced Maggie Wu will be appointed as chief financial officer for the e-commerce giant, as it prepares to launch an initial public offering. Having worked as the company’s deputy CFO since October 2011, Wu will take on her new role on 10 May, on the same day the group is set to welcome its former chief data officer Jonathan Lu as Alibaba’s new chief executive officer.

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After a watershed year for cycling enthusiasts in the UK, it seems the ‘Wiggins-effect’ is showing little sign of waning as The Hut Group acquires online bicycle specialist probikekit.com (PBK). Backed by Sir Stuart Rose and Sir Terry Leahy, The Hut Group will add PBK to its burgeoning range of online brands, including Zavvi.com and MyProtein.com.

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The oldest commercial corporation in North America, Hudson’s Bay Co. on Tuesday filed paperwork for its initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange. According to a WWD report that cited a financial source, authorities are now reviewing the registration statement before it can be made public, which could be as early as Wednesday for the Canadian retailer.

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The luxury jeweller has been forced to delay its USD 1 billion floatation in Hong Kong, as unforgiving market conditions continue in the global economy. The Telegraph on Thursday reported that Graff Diamonds was forced to drop its initial public offering after receiving orders for just half of its USD 1 billion floatation less than two days before its deadline.

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Graff Diamonds will on Monday begin offering shares to retail investors ahead its Hong Kong floatation, already slated as Asia’s biggest IPO of the year. The luxury jeweller told Reuters it had already received “tremendous interest” in the offering, which could reach USD 1 billion at its market debut on 7 June.

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Speculation that the Alibaba Group could be gearing up for an initial public offering is rife after it emerged founder Jack Ma is buying back up to half of a 40 per cent stake from Yahoo for USD 7.1 billion. Reuters on Monday reported that Yahoo will sell half its stake in the Chinese e-commerce leader for at least USD 6.3 billion in cash and up to USD 800 million in new Alibaba preferred stock.

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Tesco has launched the IPO of its Thailand property fund, aiming to raise USD 585 million to bankroll further global expansion plans.

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Tesco on Monday started pre-marketing for an initial public share offer to raise around USD 500 million (GBP 317.36 million) by placing some of its shopping centres in Thailand into a listed fund. According to Reuter;s IFR publication, it is expected to be the biggest IPO in Thailand in more than five years, with the sale scheduled to be priced on 5 March.

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Mark Zuckerberg has included the letter below to accompany Facebook’s initial public offering, outlining exactly what potential shareholders will be buying into. Here is his letter in full:
Facebook was not originally created to be a company. It was built to accomplish a social mission -- to make the world more open and connected.

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It’s set to be the biggest-ever technology company floatation, and it could begin as early as next week. Facebook is thought to be looking to file papers for an initial public offering in the next seven days, with Morgan Stanley close to being picked as the lead underwriter for the social network, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

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