Dec 17 (Reuters) - Hutchison Whampoa Ltd,controlled by Asia's richest man, Li Ka-shing, has chosen threebanks to manage the float of its health and beauty retail armA.S. Watson & Co Ltd, that could involve a secondary listing inLondon, Sky News reported, citing sources.
The Hong Kong tycoon's conglomerate picked Bank of AmericaMerrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and HSBC tomanage the share sale in 2014, Sky News said on its website.
The broadcaster, citing insiders, added that the listingwould likely be jointly in Hong Kong and London, but that nodecision had been made and Singapore was also competing for aslice of what could be the world's biggest retail sector IPO.
Reuters was not immediately able to confirm the report.Whampoa, HSBC's headquarters in the United Kingdom and HSBC HongKong could not be reached after business hours, nor could Bankof America or Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong.
Bankers and analysts told Reuters in October that A.S.Watson's IPO could be valued at about $23 billion. If 25 percentof A.S. Watson is floated - a standard Hong Kong IPO percentage- the IPO could raise close to $6 billion.
A.S. Watson owns more than 11,000 retail stores around theworld, including the Watsons, Superdrug and Kruidvat personalcare stores, Fortress electronic appliance outlets, and chainsselling food and wine and luxury and cosmetic products.