LENOVO Group Ltd. is working with China International Capital Corp. to prepare for its planned listing in Shanghai through the issuance of Chinese depositary receipts (CDRs), which could raise as much as US$1.5 billion, people familiar with the matter said.

Lenovo said Tuesday evening it plans to sell no more than 10 percent of its enlarged share capital in the CDR issuance on the science and technology innovation board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Lenovo is looking to list in Shanghai as soon as the first half of this year, said one of the people.

Escalating Sino-U.S. tensions have resulted in many U.S.-listed Chinese firms rushing to secure secondary listings on the mainland or in Hong Kong.

Lenovo, the world’s biggest PC maker, which has about 12.04 billion shares outstanding in total as of Jan. 12, said it would seek a specific mandate from shareholders to issue up to 1.34 billion shares, or 10 percent of shares in issue.

Lenovo said it intends to use the proceeds from the issuance for research and development of new technologies, products and solutions, among others.

If successful, Lenovo would be the biggest Chinese firm yet to conduct such listing in Shanghai since China began a trial program in 2018 to lure big technology firms based overseas to sell yuan-denominated securities in China. (SD-Agencies)