Xiaomi is ramping up its ambitions to hold an initial public offering later this year, having concluded its most recent meeting on the matter last week, a new report from China indicates, with industry sources claiming the phone maker had its expectations grow in recent months and is now aiming at a $100 billion valuation. Late last year when its IPO plans first started materializing, the company reportedly mulled over a $50 billion target but has increased the initial goal prompted by its continued growth across a variety of markets, insiders say. Xiaomi still hasn’t decided on the host for its IPO but is now understood to be closer than ever to choosing the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong as its platform to go public. The New York Stock Exchange is still formally in the running but has little chances of being picked, according to recent reports.
Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and a select number of other international finance giants will lead Xiaomi’s IPO, having all already agreed to a deal, insiders claim. The involvement of such high-profile financial institutions indicates the company’s IPO will be of the traditional variety and rely on underwriters in order to provide some form of assurances to investors. The immediate result of that approach should be some added stability to Xiaomi’s future stock, though the move doesn’t guarantee growth, as evidenced by the recent example of Snap which went through a similar process on its road to going public. The Beijing-based original equipment manufacturer has yet to confirm its IPO ambitions in an official capacity but has stopped denying them in recent months despite its years-long track record of doing so.
While Xiaomi’s top management often stressed that going public isn’t a priority for the company and such a move was effectively off the table for a while, with the firm struggling to maintain the momentum generated through its $44 billion valuation in 2015, last year saw a major resurgence for its core business which recorded immense growth in India and started challenging Samsung for the title of the largest local smartphone vendor only three years after entering the South Asian country. Xiaomi is now also expanding its European operations, having recently entered Spain and Greece, in addition to teasing the official launch of its products in Italy.