Xiaomi files application for IPO in Hong Kong
Beijing-based smartphone giant Xiaomi has filed its application for an initial public offering (IPO) to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, local media is reporting (in Chinese). The long-anticipated blockbuster IPO might be the world’s biggest one in 2018.
While the filing didn’t specify the exact amount Xiaomi is looking to raise, sources familiar with the matter said it would be at least $10 billion, which would put the IPO as the 15th biggest of all time. The IPO is expected to value Xiaomi’s business at around $100 billion.
Xiaomi recently has gone through some major shakeup in its top management. Just days before its IPO filing. Two of Xiaomi’s co-founders, Zhou Guangping and Huang Jiangji, announced their departure from the company for personal reasons (in Chinese).
Xiaomi’s IPO is long-awaited good news for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange whose officials have spent years pushing for reform, now effective since April 30. The new weighted voting rights structure, still banned by Chinese regulators, aims to incentivize more Chinese technology companies to list in Hong Kong. Xiaomi could be the first company to IPO under the new rules.