When it comes to fundraising, timing is everything. But budget cellphone maker Shenzhen Transsion Holdings Co. Ltd. (688036.SH) apparently hasn’t learned that lesson, based on the timing of new reports that it’s considering a second listing in Hong Kong to complement its existing listing on Shanghai’s STAR Market.
The company is one of China’s least-known cellphone superstars due to its focus on budget models under the Tecno, Infinix and Itel brands that typically sell for $100 to $200. The company quietly built up a dominant presence in Africa, before bursting onto the global leaderboard in 2023 when it became one of the world’s five biggest manufacturers with its expansion into other developing markets.
But lately Transsion has fallen on hard times as China’s other cellphone makers start to challenge it in Africa, and it stumbles in some of its newer markets. Making matters worse, the company was sued by global telecoms chip giant Qualcomm last year, and its longtime CFO also disappeared briefly last September under worrisome circumstances.