HONG KONG－The mainland's largest provider of on-demand online services Meituan-Dianping has tapped Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to work on a Hong Kong float that could see it list as early as this year, according to people with knowledge of the move.

Meituan-Dianping has recently started preparatory work with the three banks for the IPO, the people told Reuters.

The company, formed in 2015 from the $15 billion merger of Meituan and Dianping, is looking to benefit from the bull run in technology stocks.

In October, Meituan-Dianping was valued at $30 billion following a $4 billion funding round led by Tencent Holdings. The people said it was too early to determine an IPO valuation as discussions are still at a preliminary stage.

Beijing-based Meituan-Dianping, BAML, Goldman and Morgan Stanley declined to comment. All the people declined to be identified as discussions related to the IPO are confidential.

The company has, however, shifted focus to Hong Kong, the people said, as the city's exchange operator is about to allow dual-class shares, which potentially allow founders to weight share voting rights in their favor.

The IPO proceeds could help boost the firm's firepower for investments in offline retail and artificial intelligence, said one of the people, pitching it against the mainland's leading e-commerce players including Alibaba Group Holding and JD.

With 320 million active users using its platforms and more than four million merchants, the company has become one of the country's largest group-buying and dining information platforms.

It made into the list of the world's top 10 unicorns－startups valued at $1 billion or more－according to data and analytics provider CB Insights.

The Beijing-based company has also tapped into the ride-hailing market and launched related services in Shanghai last week, making no secret of its strong desire to challenge Didi Chuxing and others in the country's burgeoning ride-hailing market.

"Meituan-Dianping is a new player in the ride-hailing market, but compared with other players, our main competitiveness lies in our well-rounded services," said Wang Xing, CEO of Meituan-Dianping, at the China Development Forum last Saturday in Beijing, when asked about the company's advantages compared with Didi.

He also added that the company will start trial operations of driverless delivery vehicles this year and promote it on a large scale in 2019.

Reuters - China Daily