Alibaba Won’t Join Hong Kong’s Stock Benchmark Any Time Soon

Jeanny Yu, Bloomberg News

Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. signage is displayed outside the company's offices in Beijing, China, on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019. Alibaba, China's dominant e-commerce company, will offer clues to the health of the nation's middle-class, and how it's navigating the slowdown, when it unveils earnings Jan. 30. Photographer: Gilles Sabrie/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. won’t feature in Hong Kong’s most widely followed stock benchmark unless the index provider significantly overhauls its rules.

Stocks with unequal voting rights aren’t eligible for inclusion under current rules, a Hang Seng Indexes Co. media representative said Wednesday in response to questions about Alibaba’s potential membership.

The index compiler is due to hold a consultation early next year to review the eligibility of companies with the structure, the representative said. The special arrangement was one of the reasons Hong Kong lost out to New York in 2014 for Alibaba’s initial public offering.

Alibaba will be able to join the Hang Seng Composite Index, a broader gauge whose medium and large caps can be accessed by mainland investors via trading links. No listing history is required to be able to join the HSCI, according to the index compiler’s rules.

China allowed onshore investors to buy dual-class shares traded in Hong Kong for the first time in October. Xiaomi Corp. and Meituan Dianping are available via the trading links.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeanny Yu in Hong Kong at jyu107@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sofia Horta e Costa at shortaecosta@bloomberg.net, Fran Wang, Philip Glamann