CHINA Tourism Group Duty Free Corp., the largest operator of duty-free stores on the Chinese mainland, aims to raise up to US$7 billion in a Hong Kong secondary listing, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The Shanghai-listed firm plans to sell 5-10 percent of its stock in the listing, which could take place as soon as the third quarter of this year, the people said.

The people declined to be identified as the information is not yet public. China Tourism yesterday did not respond to a request for comment on the size of the deal.

China Tourism, which Refinitiv data showed has market capitalization of 577.9 billion yuan (US$89.43 billion), filed for the listing with the Hong Kong bourse late Friday.

Its Shanghai shares were trading 4 percent higher yesterday on news of the application. The stock is up 9.6 percent so far in 2021, versus the benchmark CSI300 Index’s 0.6 percent increase, yet remains 23 percent below its 52-week high reached Feb. 18.

At US$7 billion, China Tourism’s listing would be Hong Kong’s largest in nearly two years since Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. raised US$12.9 billion in November 2019.

The listing would also exceed the initial public offering of Kuaishou Technology, the largest in Hong Kong this year, which raised US$6.2 billion in January.

In its filing, China Tourism said it was the only retail operator on the mainland to cover all duty-free channels, such as sales at airports and on cruise ships. It said it has 188 stores in 90 cities plus six outlets in Hong Kong, Macao and Cambodia.

The company recorded a 31 percent rise in net profit at 7.1 billion yuan in 2020, its filing showed. (SD-Agencies)