With Alibaba Group Holding's IPO, many individuals will end up owning a piece of the Chinese e-commerce giant through the funds in their investment portfolio.

Actively managed funds may acquire shares in the offering and possibly will buy even more after the shares start trading on Friday. Investors in funds typically won't know about those positions until the fund's next report of its holdings-and only if the shares are still in the fund portfolio on the date for which the holdings are reported.