ALIBABA is considering raising as much as US$20 billion through a listing in Hong Kong, Reuters quoted sources familiar with the matter as saying yesterday, lining up a second blockbuster deal following its 2014 record US$25 billion float in New York.

The deal, the biggest follow-on share sale in seven years globally, would give Alibaba a war chest to keep investing in technology — a priority for China as growth flags and as the world’s second-largest economy is locked in a mounting trade spat with the United States.

While advisers and others close to the deal downplayed any trade war reasoning for the move, analysts said the context and geography could not be ignored.

“For Chinese companies listed in the United States, one has to prepare a contingency plan,” said Hao Hong, head of research at broker BOCOM International.

“Given most of the Alibaba investors are in Asia, it makes sense to come closer to your home base and give investors an option to trade in the same time zone.”

Last week, Chinese chipmaker SMIC said it was delisting its New York shares in favor of focusing on its Hong Kong listing.

Sources with knowledge of Alibaba’s plans cautioned that many details were not yet clear, including the final planned size. One source said it was more likely to be between US$10 billion and US$15 billion.

At US$20 billion, Alibaba’s deal would be the sixth-biggest follow-on share sale ever, Refinitiv data shows.

It would rank behind NTT’s 1987 US$36.8 billion sale, crisis era offerings of US$24.4 billion and US$22.5 billion from the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group , and the US$20.7 billion raised by U.S. insurer AIG in 2012.(SD-Agencies)