(Photo: CGTN)

Xiaomi, China's smartphone maker, began trading at 16.60 Hong Kong dollars (2.12 US dollars) per share on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Monday, below the initial public offering (IPO) price of 17 Hong Kong dollars. 

The company, touted as the world’s largest IPO this year, had to price its shares at the low-end of a indicative range, 17 HK dollars to 22 HK dollars, after trimming its offer size. Net proceeds from the IPO were 23.98 billion HK dollars (3.1 billion US dollars), after deducting underwriting fees and other relevant expenses.

Lei Jun, Xiaomi’s founder, chairman and CEO, told the press, "It's the long-term stock performance that matters, and the short-term one is insignificant, especially amid a bearish market. It is not necessarily bad for Xiaomi to start from a low point." 

Analysts cited a slew of factors for the relatively weak pricing, including negative investor sentiment toward equities amid trade war fears, recent stock market downturns in Chinese mainland and Hong Kong SAR, and the Chinese CDR delay.

Founded in 2010, Xiaomi has grown from a start-up in Beijing's Zhongguancun, China's "Silicon Valley", to become the world's fourth-biggest smartphone vendor at the end of last year, according to International Data Corp (IDC). Lei expected to expand its market presence though he agreed that the market in the next 10 years will grow slowly.

Lei has promised that the net profit margin in its mainstay hardware will never exceed five percent, and that means if the company wants to expand, it has to find and cultivate new revenue streams.

The company is the first to file for a Hong Kong IPO with a weighted voting rights structure, under which the company’s share capital will comprise class A and class B shares.