Xiaomi taps 29 banks for $1b loan

Lei Jun, founder and CEO of China's mobile company Xiaomi, speaks at a launch ceremony of Xiaomi Phone 4, in Beijing, July 22, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

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Xiaomi, a Chinese smartphone marker, plans to raise $1 billion from 29 banks in its first move to tap overseas funds for capital, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The three-year loan is expected to be signed on Friday. The lead bankers are Deutsche Bank AG; J.P. Morgan Chase & Co; Morgan Stanley; ICBC Asia, a subsidiary Chinese lender of Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd; Brazil's Banco do Brasil; Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ; Credit Suisse Group SA; and Goldman Sachs Group Inc, said the report.

Alibaba, the well-known Chinese Internet behemoth borrowed $8 billion last year from 22 banks, many of which were keen to take the opportunity to plunge into Chinese e-commerce market.

Hugo Barra, global vice-president of Xiaomi, said at the WSJD Live Global Technology Conference on Tuesday that the company is looking to expand into Brazil and Mexico.

The company, which sells more smartphones in China than Samsung Electronics Co and Apple Inc, sold about 18 million phones in 2013 and is projecting sales of 60 million units this year.

Recently, the firm invested $25 million in the iHealth lab of Tianjin-based Andon Health Co, showing its ambitions in mobile health.

According to the report, bankers said Xiaomi, dubbed the Apple of China, isn't planning to go public soon. The company declined to comment.

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