Xiaomi has submitted an IPO application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and reportedly hopes to raise $10 billion. In the filing, CEO Lei Jun wrote,
“We are building an open global ecosystem and not a walled garden. With the era of big data and AI upon us, we believe that the high volume of data generated by our ecosystem will allow us to better understand our users’ needs and give us a significant edge to offer improved products and services”.
He also pledged that the company will cap its net profit margin after tax for its hardware business to a maximum of 5%.
If the company achieves its targets, Xiaomi will achieve the highest-earning IPO since Alibaba raised $21.8 billion in 2014 and be valued at around $100 billion. CLSA, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have been named as joint lead managers for the listing, which is expected to go through by the end of June.
Analyst Comment
Separately, the company signed a new deal with CK Hutchison, owner of mobile network “3”, for the sale of its devices in Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Sweden and the UK. Xiaomi launched in Spain, it’s first European territory, six months ago. The deal also covers IoT and lifestyle devices in select countries, plus the sale of its devices in stores owned by AS Watson, a subsidiary of CK Hutchison operating in Hong Kong, Ireland, the Netherlands and the UK.
