HONG KONG, Jan 11 – Alibaba Group has reduced the size of its debut loan to US$3 billion (RM9.44 billion), the funds which the Chinese e-commerce giant plans to use to buy back part of the 40 per cent stake Yahoo Inc owns in the company, three sources familiar with the matter said today.

Alibaba was initially planning to raise as much as US$4 billion, but according to one of the sources, the company could instead tap its cash reserves to fund the deal.

Alibaba, which has a Hong Kong listed unit Alibaba.com, has more than US$3 billion in cash, the source said.

Yahoo’s stake could be worth up to around US$13 billion, based on the US$1.6 billion paid for a 5 per cent stake in Alibaba Group by Yunfeng Capital, Silver Lake and other investors in November.

Alibaba Group, founded by billionaire entrepreneur and former English teacher Jack Ma, declined to comment. The sources were not authorised to speak to the media. – Reuters