HONG KONG – China's No. 2 smartphone maker Xiaomi briefly suspended trading of its shares in Hong Kong today after failing to disclose a multibillion-dollar top-up placement in time for the market to open.
The unusual halt came just after business began with a brief statement to the stock exchange and remained in place throughout the morning.
Trading began again in the afternoon once a full disclosure of a share and bond sale was published, though shares were down more than 6%.
In that later filing to the stock exchange, Xiaomi said it plans to sell 1 billion shares at HK$23.70 (RM12.40) a piece, raising US$3.1 billion.
It also proposed the sale of convertible bonds, raising a net US$855 million.
Hong Kong's stock exchange requires a company to apply for a trading halt if certain inside information has been made public before an official disclosure.
"It's definitely unusual because other companies that had share placements usually file the official announcements soon after pricing," Castor Pang, head of research at Core Pacific-Yamaichi International Hong Kong, told Bloomberg News.
Xiaomi's shares have soared more than 140% this year, boosted by the troubles of its main competitor Huawei, which has been battered by US sanctions as tensions with Beijing plunge.
The share and bond sale will help the company boost its coffers to grab more market share from Huawei. – AFP, December 2, 2020
