HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese e-commerce retailer JD.com (O:JD) is pressing ahead with plans for a secondary listing in Hong Kong within the next few months despite the coronavirus pandemic still roiling financial markets, said sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
The Nasdaq-listed company has confidentially made an application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to list as soon as June, in a deal that could raise at least $3 billion, which would be the largest equity capital market transaction in Hong Kong this year, they said.
A JD.com spokeswoman declined to comment. The sources did not want to be identified as the information has not been made public.
The company has appointed Bank of America (N:BAC), CLSA and UBS (S:UBSG) to lead the deal. The spokespeople of the three banks declined to comment on the confidential filings made by JD.com.
The Beijing-headquartered company has a $64 billion market capitalisation, according to Refinitiv data based on its most recent closing share price.
Its shares closed at $43.58 in New York on Tuesday.
A secondary listing of the company would provide a boost for Hong Kong's capital markets which have suffered a marked slowdown in big ticket deals since Alibaba's (HK:9988) $13 billion transaction in November last year.