Xunlei's team-up with Xiaomi a shrewd strategy

By Mike Bastin (China Daily) Updated: 2014-06-10 07:26

People visit the stand of Xunlei Networking Technologies Ltd. during the China Internet Conference 2013, in Beijing, China, Aug 14, 2013. [Photo/IC]

Xunlei, China's 12th-largest Internet company, offering digital content acceleration and online video services in China, recently filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering.

The company originally set terms to raise $114 million on the Nasdaq in July 2011 with a $1 billion market cap but postponed and eventually withdrew its IPO that October.

Xunlei's announcement comes on the heels of the successful trading debut of online retailer JD.com and the highly anticipated listing of e-commerce company Alibaba.

Clearly, there is considerable investor interest in China's burgeoning Internet sector, particularly where the United States is concerned.

JD.com, China's second-biggest e-commerce company, saw its share price jump by more than 10 percent after it started trading on the Nasdaq.

JD.com's upbeat debut confirmed a robust investor appetite for Chinese online companies, which can only continue to build ahead of the listing of Alibaba, which filed for an IPO earlier this month and is expected to raise as much as $20 billion.

Unlike other leading Chinese Internet companies, Xunlei has recorded healthy profits for years and will go into its listing process in good overall financial shape.

Profits at Xunlei jumped to $10.7 million in 2013, up markedly from the $500,000 recorded in 2012. In the first quarter, the company reported profits of $400,000 on increased revenues of $41.2 million.

But what makes Xunlei's announcement far more likely to lead to a successful and imminent listing is not just investor interest in Chinese Internet companies in the US but the teaming up with smartphone producer Xiaomi.

Earlier this year, Xiaomi, one of China's leading smartphone brands, pumped an investment of just over $300 million into Xunlei. It was widely regarded as a strategic decision aimed at supporting an imminent IPO in the US.