By Joanne Chiu

Nasdaq-listed Huazhu Group Ltd. on Thursday began taking orders for its US$970 million stock sale in Hong Kong ahead of a secondary listing.

The multibrand hotel group in China is selling 20.42 million new shares, or 6.4% of its enlarged share capital, to investors, according to a term sheet seen by The Wall Street Journal.

Huazhu Group, which counts Accor SA and Trip.com Group Ltd. as its shareholders, will begin trading in Hong Kong on Sept. 22 under the ticker 1179.HK.

The maximum public offer price for its stock sale is 368 Hong Kong dollars (US$47.50), representing a 6.6% premium to the latest trading price of its American depositary shares.

The deal size could increase to around US$1.12 billion if underwriting banks exercise an option to sell 15% more stock. The company will fix the offer price for its stock sale, led by Goldman Sachs and CMB International, on Sept. 16. 



  Write to Joanne Chiu at joanne.chiu@wsj.com