Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd., China’s biggest e-commerce company, hired Credit Suisse Group AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) to arrange an initial public offering, said two people with knowledge of the matter.

The IPO may raise $3 billion to $4 billion in Hong Kong this year, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. John Spelich, a Hong Kong-based spokesman for Alibaba, declined to comment on the IPO plan.

Alibaba agreed last May to buy back about half of Yahoo’s 40 percent stake in the Hangzhou, China-based company for about $7.1 billion. Yahoo acquired the shares in 2005 in exchange for $1 billion and ownership of Yahoo’s Chinese operations.

Chairman Jack Ma said in June the company could sell shares in an IPO within five years. Ma, also the company’s founder, will step down as chief executive officer in May, he said in a letter to employees yesterday.

Alibaba delisted its Hong Kong unit last year after paying HK$18.3 billion ($2.4 billion) to buy back the 27 percent stake held by minority investors.

Source: Bloomberg (by Fox Hu and Zijing Wu)