(Yicai Global) Sept. 18 -- JD Health declined to comment on reports that it plans to submit an application as soon as this month to list shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for USD1 billion.

Specific details such as the size and timing of the initial public offering are still being determined and may change, according to media reports yesterday.

The online healthcare unit of leading Chinese e-tailer JD.Com secured more than USD1 billion in Series A financing in May last year, and officially announced its independent operation that same month. The Beijing-based firm’s valuation reached CNY50 billion (USD7.32 billion) in August.

Surging investor interest prompted many healthcare providers -- Hangzhou TigerMed, Lepu Bio and the US’s China-centric Exegenesis Bio among them -- to seek funding in the first half and achieve high valuations. Asian healthcare IPOs have raised about USD12.7 billion so far this year, more than for any 12-month period in the past 12 years.

Consultations on JD Health’s platform exceeded 16 million from the onset of the coronavirus pandemic at the end of January to mid-June and its average daily volume of such visits was about 100,000 in the period, public records show.

Apart from online medical services, the firm’s main businesses are pharmaceutical sales and the booking of medical examinations and vaccine shots.

Editor: Ben Armour