Investing.com -- Alibaba has announced that it plans to list its Cainiao logistics division on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, signalling a major advancement in a massive shakeup of the Chinese e-commerce giant's operations.
In a regulatory filing on Tuesday, Alibaba said it had submitted an application to spin off its Cainiao Smart Logistics Network, although the terms of the move have yet to finalized.
Following the separation, Alibaba, which currently owns 69.54% of shares in Cainiao, would retain a more than 50% stake in the firm. Founded by Alibaba in 2013, Cainiao has become a key logistics provider in China that caters to both its parent company and other third-party groups.
A spin-off of Cainiao aims to raise between $1 billion to $2 billion, according to Reuters.
Earlier this year, Alibaba proposed a sweeping overhaul that would break its sprawling empire into six business units, with most of these eventually aiming to go public or explore capital raises to help fund growth.
Cainiao is the first of these divisions to formally file for an initial public offering. In May, Alibaba signed off on a process to start external financing for its international digital commerce arm. The conglomerate also said that its Freshippo grocery concern would begin its own IPO process, while its cloud computing division would list in the next year.
Following the announcement, U.S.-listed shares in Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) pared back some losses, but remained lower in U.S. premarket trading.