HONG KONG, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. started listing on the main board of Hong Kong stock exchange on Friday.

The e-commerce giant will issue 12.5 million new shares at a price for retail investors no higher than 188 Hong Kong dollars (about 24 U.S. dollars) per share. Its international offering of 487.5 million shares will be priced on Wednesday.

It will become another Hong Kong-listed company that has weighted voting rights structures, following smartphone maker Xiaomi and group buying website Meituan Dianping.

Alibaba CEO Zhang Yong said the encouraging reforms took place in Hong Kong's capital market in recent years, and the company still believes in the bright future of Hong Kong and hopes to participate in its development.

The year 2019 marked the 20th anniversary of Alibaba. The company has announced its global strategy for the next five years and expects that more than 1 billion Chinese consumers will drive consumption of 10 trillion yuan (1.43 trillion U.S. dollars).

Online shopping platforms owned by Alibaba shattered records during China's Singles' Day shopping spree on Nov. 11. The total sales reached 268.4 billion yuan (38.3 billion U.S. dollars), marking a year-on-year growth of about 25.7 percent.