China's Xiaomi raises $5.5 billion in share sale as EV plans ramped up

(Reuters) -China's Xiaomi Corp ( XIACF ) said on Tuesday it had raised $5.5 billion in an upsized share sale as the company pushes forward with its ambitious electric vehicle manufacturing plans.

The company sold 800 million shares at HK$53.25 each, it said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The world's third-largest smartphone maker has seen its share price surge by nearly 150% from HK$21.5 in the past six months, buoyed by investor enthusiasm for its EV plans.

Xiaomi ( XIACF ), which moved into electric vehicle manufacturing last year, had planned to sell 750 million shares but increased the size of the deal while the bookbuilding process was underway.

The final price was towards the bottom end of the HK$52.80 to HK$54.60 price range flagged to investors when the deal launched on Monday.

Xiaomi ( XIACF ) shares were down 5.3% in Hong Kong on Tuesday as the Hang Seng Index was off 2.1%.

There were more than 200 investors who placed orders during the bookbuilding process and the book was multiple times oversubscribed, said a person familiar with the matter.

The top 20 investors took about 66% of the stock sold in the share sale, the person added.

Xiaomi ( XIACF ) did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the deal statistics.

The price was a 6.6% discount to Xiaomi's ( XIACF ) closing price of HK$57 on Monday. Xiaomi ( XIACF ) said the money raised would be used to fund the acceleration of its business expansion, research and technology development.

Xiaomi ( XIACF ) began manufacturing EVs last year with the launch of the SU7 sedan after selling smartphones, household appliances and smart gadgets for most of its 15-year history.

It reported an almost 50% jump in fourth-quarter revenue last week and raised its target for electric vehicle deliveries this year to 350,000 from 300,000.

The company reported 32.1 billion yuan ($4.4 billion) in revenue for its EV business in 2024, delivering more than 135,000 SU7 sedans. Xiaomi ( XIACF ) said it aimed to start shipping cars overseas in 2027.

The tech firm has purchased a new land plot of 52 hectares (128.5 acres) in Beijing's south, where it would build the third phase of its auto factory as it ramps up its annual shipment target, Chinese media has reported.

Xiaomi ( XIACF ) will invest a quarter, about 7-8 billion yuan, out of its 2025 total research and development budget of 30 billion yuan into AI, President Lu Weibing said last week.

Xiaomi's ( XIACF ) deal extends a rush of tech-focused capital raisings from Chinese firms in Hong Kong, as companies take advantage of positive sentiment towards the tech sector.

A summit led by Chinese President Xi Jinping with top tech leaders last month was widely seen as a sign that strict government scrutiny of the sector which began in 2020 was easing.

Before Xiaomi's ( XIACF ) share sale, Chinese firms had carried out $16.8 billion worth of equity capital market activity in the first quarter, according to LSEG data, more than double the same period last year.

($1 = 7.7742 Hong Kong dollars)

($1 = 7.2531 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Scott Murdoch in Sydney, Che Pan in Beijing and Shivangi Lahiri in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai, Stephen Coates and Saad Sayeed)