China pet clinic chain operator New Ruipeng Pet Healthcare Group is aiming to raise up to $500 million through an initial public offering. According to sources familiar with the matter, the company has yet to determine where it will be holding its share sale.

The same sources claim that the company is considering launching its initial public offering in either the U.S. or Hong Kong. New Ruipeng Pet has reportedly already approached Credit Suisse Group AG, Morgan Stanley, and China International Capital Corp to discuss the planned listing. New Ruipeng Pet is expected to launch its initial public offering sometime early next year.

The company, which is backed by Hillhouse Capital, recently raised "hundreds of millions of dollars" in new capital. While the exact amount the company raised wasn't detailed, the deal reportedly valued the clinic chain at around 30 billion yuan ($4.4 billion).

According to a post on its website, big investors included Germany pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim and China technology company Tencent Holdings.

The sources said New Ruipeng Pet actually raised $500 million. The same people said that Boehringer Ingelheim had invested around $200 million while Tencent had injected $100 million. The sources declined to be identified as the information was private.

New Ruipeng Pet Healthcare Group was formed last year after Hillhouse Capital consolidated its animal health care portfolio in China. The combined company operates about 1,400 pet clinics spread across 80 cities. Apart from providing health care services, the clinics offer pet grooming and online diagnosis assessments.

As deliberations for the proposed initial public offering are still in the early stages, there is still the possibility that the company might decide not to go ahead with the offering, the sources said. The company's investors, including the banks it is allegedly in talks with, have declined to comment.