(Bloomberg) -- JD (NASDAQ:JD) Health has selected banks for its planned Hong Kong initial public offering, which it could file for as soon as this month, according to people familiar with the matter.
The online health care unit of China’s No. 2 e-commerce giant JD.com Inc. has picked advisers including Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC). and UBS Group AG (SIX:UBSG) to work on the listing, the people said. JD Health aims to raise at least $1 billion from the share sale, the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is private.
Details of the offering including the size and timeline are subject to change, they said. A representative for JD didn’t respond to requests for comment. Representatives for Bank of America and UBS declined to comment.
Health care companies in Asia have embarked on a record wave of fundraising as the sector enjoys buoyant valuations thanks to surging investor demand. Hong Kong has seen a parade of biotech firms go public in the city and individual investors have at times put in so many orders than institutional buyers struggled to get their hands on the stocks.
Some $12.7 billion has been raised by health-care companies through first-time share sales in Asia this year, higher than full-year tally of any of the past 12 years, data compiled by Bloomberg show. U.S.-traded JD.com raised about $4.5 billion through a second listing in Hong Kong in June.
(Updates with bank mandates in first two paragraphs.)
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