Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup are among the investment banks mandated to work on the planned listing of social networking site YY – a deal that could break the deadlock of Chinese firms listing in the US.

The banks were named in an initial public offering filing in the US yesterday. YY, which is based in Guangzhou, is hoping to raise $100m on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange. Pacific Crest Securities and Piper Jaffray are also helping manage the deal.