Chinese ICT giant Huawei, looking to boost its smartphone market share compared to competitors Apple and Samsung, is reportedly looking to raise $2 billion through a 10-year bond issue.
The Wall Street Journal, citing “people familiar with the matter,” reported the deal could close as early as this month with potential involvement from DBS Bank, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, the Bank of China and Standard Chartered Bank.
Huawei is the number three smartphone vendor, according to research firm IDC. Based on data from Q4 2015, Apple shipped 85.6 million smartphones, Samsung shipped 74.8 million and Huawei shipped 32.4 million. That breaks down to respective market shares of 21.4%, 18.7% and 8.1%.
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IDC wrote: “Huawei was the biggest winner in the quarter, with the strongest year-over-year growth among the top five vendors at 37%…[and] became the fourth mobile phone vendor in history to ship over 100 million smartphones in a year (preceded only by Nokia, Samsung and Apple). Of the key brands originating from China, Huawei has consistently expanded its presence and share on the back of affordable handsets in emerging markets, combined with increasingly competitive flagship models.”
Huawei’s primary business is selling networking equipment and business is good. The firm recorded CNY 395 billion ($60.8 billion) in 2015 revenues, climbing 37% year-on-year. Net profit for the year was reported at CNY 36.9 billion, a 33% increase compared to the previous year.
The Carrier Business Group generated CNY 232.3 billion in annual revenue, a 21% increase compared to 2014, with the company attributing most of the growth to the widespread rollout of LTE networks.