In this undated file photo, a shopper shops for cosmetics in Lanzhou, Gansu province. (PHOTO BY PEI QIANG / FOR CHINA DAILY)

Hangzhou UCO Cosmetics Co, a Chinese mainland e-commerce servicing company for beauty brands, is considering an initial public offering in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region that could raise at least US$300 million, according to people familiar with the matter.

Hangzhou-based UCO Cosmetics Co helps traditional beauty brands market and sell their products in China on e-commerce portals including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s Tmall and JD.com Inc

The Citic Capital Partners-backed company has held discussions with potential advisers on the share sale, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. The IPO could take place as soon as this year, they said.

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Deliberations are at an early stage, and details of the offering including size and timeline could still change, the people said. Representatives for Citic Capital and UCO declined to comment.

UCO, or Youke in Chinese, was founded in 2010 and has more than 1,300 employees, according to the company’s website. The Hangzhou-based company helps traditional beauty brands market and sell their products in China on e-commerce portals including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s Tmall and JD.com Inc. UCO’s clients include international beauty brands Sisley, Decorte and Sekkisei.

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Citic Capital acquired a controlling stake in UCO from Qingdao Kingking Applied Chemistry Co in 2019 for 1.4 billion yuan (US$216 million), according to an exchange filing. Minority shareholders in UCO include Tencent Holdings Ltd, Fubon Financial Holding Co and Qatar Holding LLC.