Planning to go public late this year, Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp is said to be seeking a valuation of up to US$200 billion. Based in Beijing, the electronics and software company prefers Hong Kong over New York for its listing mainly because Hong Kong retail investors are more familiar with its products and founder, reports The Standard. Xiaomi chairman/founder Lei Jun started liaising with investment banks in November, according to media reports in China. Also, senior executives have told several employees of the impending public issue, reports News.163.com. The company was valued at $46 billion in its latest funding round in 2014. After declining sales in 2016, the company managed to revive growth last year, partly by opening offline retail stores and expanding its presence internationally, especially in India. In the third quarter of last year, Xiaomi caught up with Samsung to become the largest smartphone brand in India. It had 23.5 per cent of the market with a shipment of 9.2 million units, marking a 300 per cent year-on-year jump, data from research company International Data Corp shows. Xiaomi says it topped its annual revenue goal of RMB100 billion (US$15 billion) by the end of October. Should it reach US$200 billion valuation, Xiaomi would be the biggest technology IPO after Alibaba Group Holding, which raised a record $25 billion for a $231.4 billion market value in 2014.
Chinese smartphone maker International Data Corp is planning to go public later this year in Hong Kong and is seeking a valuation of about $200bn. It is choosing Hong Kong rather than the US as it believes Hong Kong retail investors are more familiar with International Data Corp products and its founder, Lei Jun, has been meeting investment bankers since last November. After falling sales in 2016, growth at International Data Corp revived in 2017, primarily due to the company opening offline retail stores and expanding overseas, particularly into India. International Data Corp's annual revenues were $15bn to the end of October.