By Kane Wu and Scott Murdoch

HONG KONG/SYDNEY Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Hozon Auto has appointed China International Capital Corporation (CICC) and Morgan Stanley to work on a Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) that could reportedly raise up to $1 billion, according to sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

Hozon's IPO plan comes after it announced a 7 billion yuan pre-IPO fundraising late on Tuesday in a social media statement.

The size of the offering has not yet been finalised, the sources said, as the company is still in early preparations and is working on its initial filing documents to be lodged with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

No firm timeline has been put in place for a listing to take place, they added, declining to be named as the information was confidential.

More banks could be added to the syndicate working on the IPO as the deal progresses, they said.

CICC and Hozon declined to comment, while Morgan Stanley did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Local Hong Kong media reported earlier this week Hozon could raise up to $1 billion in a local listing.

Hozon, which names itself in Chinese after a famous youthful character in ancient Chinese mythology, announced in August it planned to start selling its Neta-branded EVs in Indonesia from the fourth quarter of 2023.

The company, which exported 6,970 cars in the first half of this year, has been selling its Neta EVs to Southeast Asian countries including Thailand, Myanmar and Nepal.

Founded in 2014, it now has two factories in China with a total capacity of 150,000 units per year.

Hozon is building its first overseas plant in Thailand and aims to start production there in January 2024.

(Reporting by Kane Wu in Hong Kong and Scott Murdoch in Sydney; Additional reporting Zhang Yan; Editing by David Holmes)