The medical arm of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com is looking to raise up to $3.5 billion through a Hong Kong initial public offering, in what would be Asia's biggest ever healthcare listing, a report said Wednesday.

JD Health International's share sale comes after its parent raised around $4 billion in the city this year and comes as it sees a rise in demand for its services during the pandemic.

The firm, China's biggest online healthcare platform and retail pharmacy according to its prospectus, is looking to sell 381.9 million shares at HK$62.80-HK$70.60 each, raising as much as HK$27 billion ($3.5 billion), Bloomberg News said.

That would value the company at as much as $28.5 billion. It is aiming to list on December 8, AFP understands.

Hong Kong has seen a spate of IPOs in 2020, delivering a shot in the arm for the financial hub after a turbulent couple of years that have been blighted by sometimes-violent democracy protests, the coronavirus and fallout from China's new national security law.

JD.com's sale in June came around the same time as another tech firm, NetEase, raised $2.7 billion and followed Beijing-Shanghai High Speed Railway's $4.3 billion listing in January.

However, the share market was dealt a blow earlier this month when Ant Group, the financial arm of JD rival Alibaba, was forced to pull its world-record $35 billion listing under pressure from Chinese authorities.

JD Health's total revenue rose to 8.8 billion yuan ($1.34 billion) in the first half of 2020 from 5 billion yuan in the same period last year, it said in its prospectus.

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