Chinese internet giant Tencent is to list China Literature, the country's biggest online publishing business, in Hong Kong with a report saying it could raise as much as half-a-billion dollars.

In documents filed in the financial hub on Tuesday, Tencent will hold at least 50 percent of the firm -- similar to Amazon's Kindle Store -- and remain its parent after the spin-off. It currently holds a 62 percent stake.

Bloomberg News said the firm plans to list this year and cited unnamed people close to the deal as saying it could raise US$500 million.

The move will come as a boost to the city's technology sector, which has struggled to attract new listings and start-ups, despite being the world's top initial public offering market last year.

The company has hired Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse as joint sponsors of the IPO.

The deal comes after the mainland's popular selfie app developer Meitu's $629 million IPO in December -- the biggest IPO by a technology company in Hong Kong for almost a decade.

China Literature sells e-books and operates a publishing platform in the world's biggest internet market with more than five million writers and almost 10 million works, according to its website.

Formerly known as China Reading, the Shanghai-based company was created through a merger between Tencent's online literature arm and Shanda Cloudary.

Source: AFP