Shenzhen-based Transsion Holdings, the longtime dominant cell phone maker in Africa and other developing regions, filed an application last week with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for a secondary listing.
The company already trades on the tech-heavy Shanghai STAR market with a market capitalization of just under $13 billion.
The new Hong Kong listing will provide the company with additional capital to accelerate its expansion in India, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Additionally, Transsion is moving beyond cell phones to compete with other Chinese electronics giants in smart watches and other connected devices.
Transsion, according to the technology market research agency IDC, ranked fourth globally in mobile phone sales with an 8.6% market share.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? For more than a decade, Transsion’s three smartphone brands have thoroughly dominated the African mobile market, a track record the company hopes to emulate in more competitive markets across Asia.
The secret to Transsion’s long-held success in these markets is the company’s intense focus on localization, including product development and the use of hyper-local micro-celebrities for promotion.
