By Tang Guhan
Over 100,000 retail investors bought 1.03 billion shares for Xiaomi's initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong as of Thursday.
Xiaomi Inc., a Chinese smartphone and connection device maker became the largest IPO for retail investors around the world this year.
The prospectus showed Xiaomi this time issued 108 million shares with a price per share in a range between HKD 17 and HKD 22.
The oversubscription number referred to the investors' purchasing applications, which overtook the actual issued ones, indicating the investors' passion and confidence in the targeted company.
Retail investors oversubscribed by as much as ten times the issued number of shares. The figure did not reach the securities' expectation for 100 times the subscription.
Securities' analysts noted that the previous tech stock had underperformed after their IPOs in Hong Kong, which possibly influenced the investors' sentiment in Xiaomi's stock subscription.
Furthermore, the investors' passion for new stocks had cooled down due to the sluggish Hong Kong stock market performance.
The stock prices of some unicorns have slumped after their IPOs, leading to worries for investors about the newcomers.
China's insurance giant Ping An's medical arm, the Ping An Good Doctor, for example, did not perform well concerning its stock price after its floatation in Hong Kong.
However, the foreign institutional investors have shown higher enthusiasm as reported by the Hong Kong media.
Xiaomi was valued at $55 billion, which was believed to be a conservative estimate in Xiaomi's founder, Lei Jun's views.
Moreover, the estimation has surpassed the valuation of Apple Inc. and Tesla.
Lei noted that Xiaomi is a versatile company which makes it unique in the world.
