JD.com applies for $3 billion Hong Kong secondary listing - sources

Chinese e-commerce retailer JD.com 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 (2.4 billion pounds) which would be the largest equity capital market transaction in Hong Kong this year, they said.

JD.com did not immediately respond for a request to comment. The sources did not want to be named because the information has not been made public.

The company has appointed Bank of America , CLSA and UBS 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 <9988.HK> $13 billion transaction in November last year.