So Jack Ma is leaning towards floating Alibaba Group in Hong Kong. That would be great news for the local market. What little is available on the company’s numbers let alone Mr Ma’s recent rockstar-like retirement to the chairmanship, make Alibaba a market leader. But what would show real leadership for Hong Kong and the Chinese entrepreneurs who will follow would be if the deal were clean – that is, without cornerstone investors.

Cornerstones have become de rigueur in Hong Kong and they risk downgrading the market and its stocks. Beloved of the state-owned enterprises that made Hong Kong the world’s biggest listings venue by value in three of the past five years, they involve pre-selling chunks of the float to big-name investors in return for half-year lock-ups. In 2012 cornerstones took more than a third of listings, the highest in more than a decade, according to Dealogic. So far this year they have taken a fifth. The result is a less liquid stock with an overhang six months down the line. And the lock-up can be insecure: if the shares are held as loan collateral, they can be sold to cover margin calls.

The original point of cornerstones, before they were used to “de-risk” listing for SOEs, was as a marketing tool. If, say, Li Ka-shing liked a company, that would encourage others. But Mr Ma does not need more names: Alibaba’s existing investors include SoftBank, Yahoo, Temasek, CIC and Silver Lake. If that list does not impress investors, adding a few more blue chips is unlikely to help. The details of how much, when and how Alibaba lists are still to be finalised, of course. But when Mr Ma listens to the unending stream of banker pitches, he should bear in mind that the company is big enough and desirable enough on its own merits to help end this cloud over one of Asia’s biggest and most vibrant markets.