EX-5.1 2 a19-22784_1ex5d1.htm EX-5.1

Exhibit 5.1

 

Our ref         MHY/604743-000062/15083169v1

 

Alibaba Group Holding Limited

c/o Alibaba Group Services Limited

26/F Tower One, Times Square

1 Matheson Street

Causeway Bay

Hong Kong

 

15 November 2019

 

Dear Sirs

 

Alibaba Group Holding Limited

 

We have acted as Cayman Islands legal advisers to Alibaba Group Holding Limited (the “Company”) in connection with the Company’s registration statement on Form F-3, including all amendments or supplements thereto (the “Registration Statement”), filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, to date relating to the offering by the Company of certain American depositary shares (the “ADSs”) representing the Company’s ordinary shares of par value US$0.000003125 each (the “Shares”).

 

We are furnishing this opinion as Exhibits 5.1, 8.1 and 23.2 to the Registration Statement.

 

1                                         Documents Reviewed

 

For the purposes of this opinion letter, we have reviewed only originals, copies or final drafts of the following documents:

 

1.1                               The certificate of incorporation of the Company dated 28 June 1999, the certificate of incorporation on change of name of the Company dated 6 December 2007 and the certificate of incorporation on adoption of dual foreign name dated 7 October 2014.

 

1.2                               The amended and restated memorandum and articles of association of the Company as adopted by a special resolution passed on 2 September 2014 and effective on 24 September 2014, the closing date of the Company’s initial public offering of Ordinary Shares represented by American depositary shares (the “Memorandum and Articles”).

 

1.3                               The minutes (or extracts thereof) (the “Board Minutes”) of the meeting of the directors of the Company held on 31 October 2019 (the “Board Meeting”).

 

1.4                               The minutes (the “EGM Minutes”) of the extraordinary general meeting of the shareholders of the Company held on dated 15 July 2019 (the “EGM”).

 

 

1.5                               A certificate from a director or an officer of the Company, a copy of which is attached hereto (the “Director’s Certificate”).

 

1.6                               A certificate of good standing dated 22 July 2019, issued by the Registrar of Companies in the Cayman Islands (the “Certificate of Good Standing”).

 

1.7                               The Registration Statement.

 

2                                         Assumptions

 

The following opinions are given only as to, and based on, circumstances and matters of fact existing and known to us on the date of this opinion letter.  These opinions only relate to the laws of the Cayman Islands which are in force on the date of this opinion letter.  In giving these opinions we have relied (without further verification) upon the completeness and accuracy, as of the date of this opinion letter, of the Director’s Certificate and the Certificate of Good Standing.  We have also relied upon the following assumptions, which we have not independently verified:

 

2.1                               Copies of documents, conformed copies or drafts of documents provided to us are true and complete copies of, or in the final forms of, the originals.

 

2.2                               All signatures, initials and seals are genuine.

 

2.3                               There is nothing under any law (other than the law of the Cayman Islands), which would or might affect the opinions set out below.

 

2.4                               There is nothing contained in the minute book or corporate record of the Company (which we have not inspected) which would or might affect the opinions set out below.

 

3                                         Opinion

 

Based upon the foregoing and subject to the qualifications set out below and having regard to such legal considerations as we deem relevant, we are of the opinion that:

 

3.1                               The Company has been duly incorporated as an exempted company with limited liability and is validly existing and in good standing with the Registrar of Companies under the laws of the Cayman Islands.

 

3.2                               The authorised share capital of the Company is US$100,000 divided into 32,000,000,000 ordinary shares, par value US$0.000003125 per share.

 

3.3                               The issue and allotment of the Shares have been duly authorised and when allotted, issued and paid for as contemplated in the Registration Statement, the Shares will be legally issued and allotted, fully paid and non-assessable. As a matter of Cayman law, a share is only issued when it has been entered in the register of members (shareholders).

 

3.4                               The statements under the caption “Taxation” in the prospectus forming part of the Registration Statement, to the extent that they constitute statements of Cayman Islands law, are accurate in all material respects and that such statements constitute our opinion.

 

4                                         Qualifications

 

In this opinion letter the phrase “non-assessable” means, with respect to shares in the Company, that a shareholder shall not, solely by virtue of its status as a shareholder, be liable for additional assessments or calls on the shares by the Company or its creditors (except in exceptional circumstances, such as involving fraud, the establishment of an agency relationship or an illegal or improper purpose or other circumstances in which a court may be prepared to pierce or lift the corporate veil).

 

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Except as specifically stated herein, we make no comment with respect to any representations and warranties which may be made by or with respect to the Company in any of the documents or instruments cited in this opinion or otherwise with respect to the commercial terms of the transactions the subject of this opinion.

 

We hereby consent to the filing of this opinion as an exhibit to the Registration Statement and to the reference to our name under the headings “Enforceability of Civil Liabilities”, “Taxation” and “Legal Matters” and elsewhere in the prospectus included in the Registration Statement.  In giving such consent, we do not thereby admit that we come within the category of persons whose consent is required under Section 7 of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Rules and Regulations of the Commission thereunder.

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

/s/ Maples and Calder (Hong Kong) LLP

 

 

 

Maples and Calder (Hong Kong) LLP

 

 

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