An employee demonstrates using a touchscreen kiosk to order a meal at a Yum China Holdings Inc. KFC restaurant in Shanghai, China, on Tuesday, March 19, 2019. (QILAI SHEN / BLOOMBERG) 

Yum China Holding Inc has filed confidentially for a Hong Kong listing that could raise about US$2 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, joining other US-traded Chinese mainland companies seeking share sales in the special administrative region.

Yum China operates 9,295 restaurants in over 1,400 cities in the country, according to its website

The restaurant operator running outlets of US brands including KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell in the mainland submitted a stock listing application to the Hong Kong exchange in recent weeks, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is not public.

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The New York-listed company has been working with China International Capital Corp and Goldman Sachs Group Inc on preparations for the share sale, Bloomberg News reported in January.

The listing would be the latest in a growing number of US-listed mainland companies turning to the Hong Kong market for fresh funds.

Mainland online retailer JD.com raised US$3.9 billion in its Hong Kong listing Thursday, while gaming company NetEase Inc raised US$2.7 billion for its Hong Kong share sale on June 11.

Details of the proposed share sale are not final and the company could decide not to pursue the listing, the people said. A representative for Yum China declined to comment.

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Yum China operates 9,295 restaurants in over 1,400 cities in the country, according to its website. The mainland’s biggest fast-food chain operator reported a 24 percent year over year decline in first quarter revenue, and said it expects an extended recovery period from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on its business.

The company pivoted in February by introducing so-called “contactless” delivery and business lines such as catering and delivering raw food for home-cooking. By late March, it said 95 percent of its stores in the mainland were either partially or fully open.

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