Li Ka-Shing’s Hutchison Whampoa, the world’s biggest container-terminal operator, will sell deep-water port holdings in Hong Kong and southern China, hubs of record global trade, in what may be Singapore’s largest-ever initial public offering.

The company will retain a stake of about 25% in the trust that will own terminals in Hong Kong and neighboring Guangdong province, port operations along the Pearl River and shipping-support businesses, it said in a statement today.

The Hutchison Port Holdings Trust offering may raise at least US$6 billion ($7.7 billion), Reuters said, citing IFR, an affiliated news service. Hong Kong-based Hutchison is selling the assets, with an operating margin of about 50%, as China’s efforts to cool its economy threaten to damp exports that have jumped sixfold in a decade.

“Hutchison may want to do the IPO before that policy really starts to affect the port business,” said Jay Ryu, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Mirae Asset Securities. “Things seem to have slowed down with China trying to curb growth.”

The country told banks to set aside more deposits as reserves for the fourth time in just over two months last week. It also raised interest rates on Dec. 25 after food costs jumped 12% from a year earlier in November.

Jeremy Lau, a spokesman for Hutchison, wasn’t available to comment when called by Bloomberg News. DBS Bank Ltd., Deutsche Bank AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. will manage the listing, the statement said. Hutchison will hold a conference call about the planned IPO at 4 p.m. in Hong Kong, according to a statement posted on its website.

A US$6 billion sale “doesn’t seem to be a crazy figure” based on rough calculations, Ryu said. The IPO could be the largest in Singapore, he said.