Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's finance services arm will definitely go public, eyeing a mainland China listing for the e-commerce company's crown jewel. Alibaba was unable to list shares on China's mainland as part of its record-breaking $25 billion initial public offering, and Executive Chairman Jack Ma hopes that Alipay will take also this opportunity. Ma, speaking on the company's annual Singles' Day shopping festival, did not give a timeline for when the unit might list. Alipay is the lifeblood of Alibaba's e-commerce network and China's dominant online payment processor. Set up a decade ago, the service pioneered online payments in China and settled 4.825 trillion yuan in transactions in the year ended June 30, 2014. Foreign access to mainland stock markets remains curtailed and subject to quotas, but there are now a series of trial program in place that if expanded could allow significant foreign exposure to firms listed on mainland exchanges. As part of an agreement between Alibaba and Ant Financial, Alibaba shares 37.5 percent of the unit's profit or can in the future take a direct stake in it. The IPO must value Ant Financial at a minimum of $25 billion, according to the agreement, which is detailed in Alibaba's IPO prospectus. Alibaba has been aggressively offering new financial services around Alipay, including a money market fund for consumers, a mobile payment app anD a new private bank that was approved by the Chinese government, but Alipay remains according to some analysts as one of the most valuable assets in the Alibaba universe due to its unique position in Chinese commerce. The gLawcal Team LIBEAC project Tuesday, 11 November 2014 (Source: Reuters)