Yihaodian may opt for initial public offering in the US

BEIJING - Yihaodian, the online supermarket whose investors include Wal-Mart Stores Inc, may choose the United States for an initial public offering as it expands to challenge Chinese rivals including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's Taobao.

The Shanghai-based retailer aims to break even in three years and will "most likely" sell shares to the public in the US, said Chairman Yu Gang, who co-founded the company in 2008 after working as a supply chain executive at Dell Inc and Amazon.com Inc. There is no timetable for the sale, he said.

Yu expects to conclude the Wal-Mart investment agreement this month as Yihaodian aims for a larger slice of China's online commerce market, which CLSA Ltd estimates will almost double to 904 billion yuan ($140 billion) next year. Baidu Inc, China's most popular search engine operator, and Sina Corp, which owns the nation's third most-visited website, are among China-based companies that have chosen the US for initial public offerings.