26/03/2025

BIZ & FINANCE WEDNESDAY | MAR 26, 2025

17

Xiaomi raises US$5.5 billion in share sale

Rupiah falls to lowest since Asian financial crisis

BEIJING: China’s Xiaomi Corp said yesterday it had raised US$5.5 billion (RM24.4 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$21.50 in the past six months, buoyed by investor enthusiasm for its EV plans. Xiaomi, 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. 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. The price was a 6.6% discount to Xiaomi’s closing price of HK$57 on Monday. Xiaomi said the money raised would be used to fund the acceleration of its business expansion, research and technology development. Xiaomi 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. The company 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 (RM19.5 billion) in revenue for its EV business in 2024, delivering more than 135,000 SU7 sedans. Xiaomi said it aimed to start shipping cars overseas in 2027. The tech firm has purchased a new land plot of 52ha 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 will invest a quarter, about seven or eight billion yuan, out of its 2025 total research and development budget of 30 billion yuan into artificial intelligence, President Lu Weibing said last week. – Reuters Vingroup plans renewables and LNG power ventures HANOI: Vietnam’s largest conglomerate Vingroup is seeking to develop renewable energy and liquefied natural gas power plants, state media reported yesterday, in what would be its first ventures into the energy sector. The company is seeking approval from the government to add its proposed projects to a national power development plan that is being revised, online newspaper VietnamNet reported, citing a document the firm sent to the government. Vingroup did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for confirmation. The projects include a US$5.5 billion (RM24.4 billion) 5-gigawatt LNG power plant in Haiphong City, slated for completion by 2030 and projects with 20.5 GW renewable capacity to be developed by 2030 with investment of US$20 billion to $25 billion, the report said. It did not specify how many plants or what type of renewable energy. Vingroup, once a real estate and retail conglomerate, has grown to become one of Vietnam’s biggest firms and is the parent of Nasdaq-listed electric vehicle maker VinFast with a market capitalisation of US$8.45 billion. – Reuters

“Global uncertainty is still related to the impact of (US President Donald) Trump’s tariff policy and geopolitical turmoil, including the impact of the trade war on China and many other emerging market countries in Asia,” said Fitra Jusdiman, BI’s director of monetary and securities asset management. Trump has already imposed tariffs on major trading partners, including China, Mexico, and Canada, and has said he will impose more tariffs early next month. Genuine foreign exchange demand from the domestic market for repatriation purposes and other payments also contributed to the rupiah’s weakness yesterday, BI’s head of monetary management Edi Susianto told Reuters separately. “We have entered the market boldly to maintain the balance of FX supply and demand in the market,” he said. The rupiah later pared its losses and was trading at 16,590 to the dollar of 0515 GMT (1.15pm in Malaysia). BI has been intervening in the FX market every month this year, ensuring the rupiah’s slide is gradual. Still, it has fallen 3% versus the dollar so far this year as foreigners pull billions of dollars

from the stock market. However, concerns over the country’s fiscal health linger following weak state revenues at the start of the year, while the government plans huge spending to reach 8% economic growth by 2029. The same concerns have also slammed Indonesia’s main stock index, sending it to its lowest intraday level in three years on Monday. It was trading 1% higher yesterday. Lack of clear communication from authorities on the fiscal situation and spending programmes have compounded investors’ concerns, analysts said. “Conciliatory guidance from the authorities on the fiscal situation and a growth-supportive stance might help to restore confidence in the near-term,” said DBS Bank economist Radhika Rao in an e-mail. Indonesia’s presidential communication office held a meeting on Monday with economists and financial market analysts to gain input on communication strategy. Indonesian businesses have been responding to the weak rupiah since the end of last year by tightening their material imports, Indonesian employers association chairman Shinta Kamdani said. – Reuters

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s central bank stepped into the currency market to defend the rupiah yesterday, as growing concerns over politics, government spending and capital flight pushed the rupiah to its lowest levels since the Asian financial crisis. The rupiah weakened as much as 0.54% to a low of 16,640 per dollar in morning trade, extending a slide that has been driven by global market uncertainties and concerns over Indonesia’s fiscal health and growth outlook. A central bank official told Reuters that Bank Indonesia (BI) had intervened in the spot currency, bond markets and in domestic non-deliverable forwards as the rupiah careened towards multi-decade lows. Its all-time low was 16,800 in June 1998, during the Asian Financial Crisis, data from LSEG shows. o Poor communication by Indonesian govt fuels market concerns: Analysts

The BYD Seal 5 at the Bangkok International Motor Show 2005 at the Impact Arena. – AFPPIC

BYD overtakes rival Tesla with record 2024 revenue BEIJING: Chinese carmaker BYD saw a surge in revenue last year, a stock filing showed on Monday, surpassing the US$100 billion (RM443 billion) mark and beating rival Tesla as the electric vehicle giant accelerates its overseas expansion. BYD recorded 777.1 billion yuan or US$107.2 billion in revenue for 2024, according to a statement published at the Shenzhen stock exchange on Monday. That figure eclipsed the US$97.7 billion in revenue last year announced previously by Tesla.

In a further promising sign, the company’s net profit in the final quarter of the year reached a record amount of 15 billion yuan, the stock filing showed. BYD – which adopts the English slogan “Build Your Dreams” – has enjoyed a giddy few months of surging sales disclosures and soaring stock prices. It said in January that it sold nearly 4.3 million vehicles last year, up more than 40% from the previous year. Monthly sales also jumped 161% in February to 318,000 units, easily outpacing a steep decline at Tesla over the same period. – AFP

The Shenzhen-based firm has emerged in recent years as the clear leader in China’s highly competitive EV market, which is the largest in the world. It is also increasingly seeking new growth channels abroad, vowing to conquer the European market with a new compact electric model and super-fast charging capabilities.

BYD’s revenue results represent a 29% increase from the previous year and outperformed a Bloomberg forecast of 766 billion yuan. Meanwhile, BYD’s net profit last year amounted to 40.3 billion yuan, up 34% from 2023 and reaching a record high.