Xiaomi shares fall in Hong Kong trading debut as US-China trade war deter equity investors

Xiaomi, the first company to raise capital under Hong Kong’s overhauled listing rules for pre-revenue start-ups or companies with multiple classes of stock, sputtered during its trading debut on the city’s exchange when investors spooked by the US-China trade war refrained from buying its shares.

Shares of the Beijing-based company, offered a week ago at HK$17 each in what was once billed as the world’s biggest initial public offer, fell by as much as 5.9 per cent in an advancing market to HK$16, before recovering to end their first trading day at HK$16.80.

“Investors are no longer that crazy about so-called new economy IPOs, as many of them have quickly fallen below their offer prices,” said Edmond Hui, chief executive for Bright Smart Securities.

“It’s no longer a guarantee of making money.”

The lacklustre debut was a blow for the world’s fourth-largest smartphone maker, which had taken a mere seven years to grow from a start-up to surpass 100 billion yuan (US$15 billion) in sales. Founded by serial entrepreneur Lei Jun in 2010, Xiaomi was the first blockbuster IPO under the new listing rules that Hong Kong’s securities regulator and stock market operator pushed through last year.

“Xiaomi’s listing signals the Hong Kong market has entered a new phase,” said the city’s Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po, speaking in Cantonese during a ceremony marking Xiaomi’s trading debut. “I believe [Hong Kong’s listing reform] will prompt more innovative technology companies to raise funds in Hong Kong, so our market can better serve the real economy.”

The size of Xiaomi’s fundraising – originally aimed at US$10 billion – was trimmed by bad timing, coming after the US and Chinese governments fired the first salvoes of their trade war.

Net proceeds from the IPO were HK$23.98 billion (US$3.1 billion), after deducting underwriting fees and other relevant expenses, Xiaomi said. The company priced its stock at the low end of a price range of between HK$17 and HK$22 each.

That values the company, whose name is the Chinese phrase for millet, at US$54.3 billion, about half of the US$100 billion it had originally sought, which would’ve made Xiaomi the world’s largest IPO this year. Instead, that honour has gone to Siemens Healthineers, which raised US$5.17 billion in Frankfurt in March.