China's largest lifestyle goods retailer Miniso Group Holding, which just raised $608 million through an initial public offering in New York, is planning to accelerate expansion. In a post- offering statement, the company said that it would reach "every corner of the world," by spending its new capital to grow internationally.
The company, which says it sells quality items at affordable prices, will use more than 60 percent of its new capital to enhance its transport and warehousing.
"The warm reception shows that the world's largest capital market favored our business model, which is selling good-looking, fine-design products at a cheaper price. Clearly, there is much room in overseas markets. We are hoping to reach every corner of the world and this is a key reason why we chose New York for fundraising," the company's chief financial officer Zhang Saiyin said.
During its offering, the company sold 30.4 million American depositary shares priced at $20 each. This final pricing was slightly above the stock's initial indicated range of $16.50 to $18.50 a share. Each American depositary share represents four of the company's ordinary A shares.
At its debut Thursday, Miniso Group's share price rose to a high of $24.90 per share before closing at $20.88. Its debut closing price gave the company a market valuation of around $6.35 billion. The rise in the company's valuation put its chairperson and chief executive Ye Guofu into China's growing number of billionaires. Ye controls about 82.2% of the company.
Miniso started out as a single-store business in 2013, with Ye mirroring the business model of Japan's popular Muji store and other 100-yen and dollar store concepts. Now, the company has more than 4,222 stores in more than 80 countries. Around 60% of its stores are in mainland China.
Miniso sells lifestyle products from food, electronics, home furnishings and cosmetics. Roughly 90% of its stores are jointly owned and operated by franchise partners.
