Asian Tech Press (Sep 7) -- KE Holdings Inc. ( NYSE: BEKE), China's leading real-estate brokerage company, denied rumors that it is planning a Hong Kong IPO as soon as possible at the end of this year, aiming to raise $2 billion.

China's largest real estate agency KE Holdings plans to go public in Hong Kong in late this year at the earliest and has hired Goldman Sachs to lead the listing, Reuters said on Tuesday, citing sources.

The source also said the housing broker is currently studying a dual-primary listing in Hong Kong to raise about $2 billion.

KE Holdings, which is backed by Tencent and Japan's SoftBank, raised $2.1 billion in a New York IPO last year, making it the second-largest Chinese company to go public in the U.S. at the time.

In response, the person in charge of the company denied the rumors, saying, "The company currently has no plans to do so."