(Reuters) – Shareholders of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba have approved a plan to upgrade its Hong Kong listing to primary status, the company said on Friday, a move expected to attract large investments from China.

The company, founded by Jack Ma, originally proposed the idea a few years ago, at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions between China and the US

The listing status upgrade will allow Alibaba to become part of a program that connects the Shenzhen and Shanghai stock exchanges with the Hong Kong stock exchange.

The decision was expected to be approved by the company’s investors, who have long been concerned about the company’s growth prospects as it faces new market rivals such as PDD Holdings.

According to Alibaba, the conversion to a dual primary listing does not involve the issuance of new shares and the company does not need to raise funds.

Shares of the company listed in Hong Kong rose as much as 0.7% to HK$82.2 in early trading.

(Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)