Chinese tech firm Xiaomi looks to raise $10bn for Hong Kong float
Chinese smartphone behemoth Xiaomi is gearing up to float on the Hong Kong stock exchange as it looks to raise $10bn for the IPO.
The company is due to list in July in what could be the biggest IPO since Alibaba floated for $25bn in 2014.
It filed for an IPO in Hong Kong today, as proceeds from the float will value the company at around $100bn, analysts say.
The deal would be one of the first IPOs to make use of changes made to the Hong Kong Stock exchange last month which allow companies to retain control of their business after listing.
Read more: Everything you need to know about Xiaomi
It is the top smartphone seller in India and the fourth biggest in the world behind Samsung, Apple and Huawei, as last year it garnered 28 per cent of its revenues from outside China.
Sales boomed between 2015 and 2017 as revenue increased by 70 per cent to 114.6bn yuan, ($17.9bn)
Xiaomi started life eight years ago selling Apple imitations at half the price of the real products, although it has now expanded into making home products such as rice cookers and air conditioners.
Read more: Xiaomi wants to dominate TV as well as smartphones
In an open letter included in the filing, Xiaomi founder Lei Jun, who has in the past been referred to as “China’s Steve Jobs” attributed the company’s success to a “fan culture” it had built up with customers.
“Good companies make profits, great companies win over people’s hearts,” he wrote. “We have a large community of ‘Mi Fans’, passionate users who are intensely loyal to our brand, highly engaged on our platform and actively contribute feedback and feature ideas to our product development.
“We have changed how hundreds of millions of people live, and we will become a part of the lives of billions of people globally in the future.”