(Editor: Leona)

Chinese furniture and building-material retailer Red Star Macalline Group is seeking to raise up to $1 billion from a Hong Kong, China IPO as early as the end of the second quarter, IFR reported on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the planned float.

The company, backed by private-equity firm Warburg Pincus, is working with CICC and Goldman Sachs on the planned float, the report added. The company is looking to raise between $500 million to $1 billion through the IPO, IFR said, citing one of the sources.

Red Star had originally planned a Shanghai IPO, but the long queue of companies lining up for an A-share listing prompted the company to turn to Hong Kong, China, the report added.

Red Star is still pursuing an A-share listing but is open to other opportunities, said a Beijing-based company official when contacted by Reuters. The official declined to give his name.

A Beijing-based spokeswoman for U.S.-headquartered Warburg Pincus was not immediately available for comment.

Warburg Pincus held a 15.55 percent stake in Red Star as of April last year, according to the Chinese company's preliminary A-share prospectus.