Alibaba Group Holding to pay $15.8 million in legal fees for IPO

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd disclosed yesterday that it would pay $15.8 million in legal fees to law firm Simpson Thacher and other attorneys who advised the Chinese e-commerce giant on its upcoming IPO, six times what Facebook paid its counsel two years ago, Reuters reports.

Alibaba, which aimed to raise $21 billion in an IPO, made the disclosure in a prospectus yesterday, it filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Chinese company, whose sales are more than that of Amazon.com and eBay combined, has a complex structure and had frequently revised its prospectus, which had increased legal fees, analysts said.