This year’s hottest tech IPO may be a transportation firm: Alibaba’s Cainiao

SHARE debuts among technology companies have not inspired confidence this year, with two of the largest offerings sliding below their listing prices within the first week. The next big deal may reignite interest in initial public offerings (IPOs) because of a unique set of traits.

Cainiao Smart Logistics Network is nominally considered a technology company, chiefly because it is a spinoff from Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group. But it is no more tech than FedEx or ZTO Express, which also use software and hardware to optimise the very manual job of delivering packages. 

That distinction may not matter, though. Cainiao’s proximity to the mothership allows the affiliate to bathe in the technology glow, while being distant enough from Alibaba’s own macroeconomic challenges to warrant consideration by global investors. It will need all the buzz it can get; Cainiao is set to become the first of five Alibaba Group companies to pursue an independent equities-market listing.