SINGAPORE (REUTERS) - Singapore-listed agribusiness Wilmar International hopes to receive regulatory approval early next year for the initial public offering of its China business, Yihai Kerry Arawana Holdings (YKA), it said on Thursday (Nov 21).

Wilmar, which is valued at more than US$19 billion (S$25.88 billion), had announced its intention to list the business in 2017, after having shelved plans for a roughly US$3 billion listing of its Chinese unit in Hong Kong in 2009.

"Regarding YKA IPO, we are waiting for approval from the Chinese regulators and we hope to receive it by early 2020," Wilmar said in an emailed response to a Reuters query on the IPO status.

In August, the company said it had applied to list the business on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Wilmar counts China, where it has more than 300 plants and a wide marketing and distribution network, as a major market.