S&P Dow Jones Indices says Alibaba could be added to global benchmarks

HONG KONG (Reuters) - S&P Dow Jones Indices, which compiles several of the world's most widely tracked stock benchmarks, said on Friday it had assigned Alibaba Group Holding Ltd a China domicile, opening the way for the company to be added to global benchmarks that include Chinese stocks.

The move means e-commerce company Alibaba would be screened for inclusion in the S&P China Broad Market Index (BMI), the S&P Emerging BMI and S&P Global BMI, among others, S&P Dow Jones Indices said in a statement.

Inclusion on the indices creates demand from global fund managers that use them as a performance benchmark for their funds.

Alibaba, whose platforms handle more goods than EBay Inc and Amazon.com Inc combined, launched on Monday its highly anticipated initial public offering. At the top end of expectations, the IPO would raise $21.1 billion (13 billion pounds), topping Facebook Inc's $16 billion listing in 2012 as the largest-ever technology IPO.

Alibaba could set a new record for the world's biggest IPO if underwriters exercise an option to sell additional shares to meet demand - putting it as high as $24.3 billion, and overtaking Agricultural Bank of China Ltd's $22.1 billion listing in 2010.

Despite the large size of the offering, Alibaba wouldn't be eligible to be included in some of the most popular U.S. indices. The S&P 500 index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which are both compiled by S&P Dow Jones Indices, only accept companies with a U.S. domicile.

(Reporting by Elzio Barreto; Editing by Michael Perry and Stephen Coates)