Xiaomi sees no timetable for offering on mainland

SMARTPHONE maker Xiaomi Corp said on Saturday there is no time frame for a mainland share offering.

Xiaomi had been expected to raise up to US$10 billion, split between its Hong Kong and mainland offerings. But in a surprise move last week, it postponed its mainland share offering until after it completes its scheduled July 9 listing in Hong Kong.

It did not say when it would restart its China depositary receipts issuance process or why it was postponing the mainland offering.

Xiaomi, which also makes Internet-connected devices, awarded its chief executive and co-founder Lei Jun about US$1.5 billion worth of shares for his contribution to the company, it said in an updated regulatory filing last week, in one of the largest one-off share-based corporate bonuses in years.

The US$1.5 billion stock, which has been awarded to Lei’s holding entity — Smart Mobile Holdings Ltd — was recorded by Xiaomi as share-based compensation expenses on April 2, one month before it filed for its blockbuster Hong Kong IPO.

Xiaomi is the latest high-profile company to lavish its senior executives with large stock awards ahead of a stock market flotation in recent years.

Its co-founder and president, Lin Bin, defended the board’s decision on the compensation.

“Many new-economy companies have compensated their chairmen or CEOs with stocks ahead of the IPOs. Xiaomi isn’t the first and won’t be the last to do so,” he said at the news conference.

Lin added Xiaomi’s board unanimously agreed on the stock award to Lei, who “completely knew nothing about it”.

Chinese e-commerce powerhouse JD.com awarded CEO Richard Liu stocks worth nearly $US900 million at the company’s IPO price, ahead of its New York listing in 2014.

The offering is set to be the first listing under new exchange rules designed to attract tech floats, as competition heats up between Hong Kong, New York and the Chinese mainland.

It is selling about 2.18 billion shares at a price range of HK$17 to HK$22 (US$2.17 to US$2.80) each, representing a multiple of 22.7-29.3 times 2019 earnings forecast by its underwriting syndicate.

Lei said he expected to expand its product range and international market presence. Xiaomi’s phones are sold in 74 countries.

“I agree the smartphone market in the next 10 years will grow slowly. But still, it is a giant market,” Lei said.

Set up in 2010, Xiaomi doubled its smartphone shipments in 2017 to become the world’s fourth-largest maker, said Counterpoint Research.