(Yicai Global) May 6 -- China’s Kingsoft Cloud Holdings, a digital services provider set up by Xiaomi founder Lei Jun, hopes to raise USD450 million when it lists on the Nasdaq at the end of this week.

The Beijing-based firm will issue 25 million American depositary shares at between USD16 and USD18 apiece, according to a prospectus submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this week. It plans to go public on May 8 and will finalize the issue price on May 7.

Kingsoft Cloud will use half of the money to update and extend its infrastructure and around a quarter to develop technologies and products based on artificial intelligence, Big Data, cloud technology and the Internet of Things, it said.

The company is yet to turn a profit since its establishment eight years ago, with its losses over the past three years totaling CNY2.8 billion (USD395 million) and widening each year despite rising revenue. It takes 90 percent of its income from cloud services, but ranks only sixth in China by market share and lags well behind leaders Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud, and Amazon Web Services.

Major shareholders Kingsoft and Xiaomi will buy up to USD25 million and USD50 million worth of the newly issued shares, according to the prospectus. French assets management firm Carmignac Gestion, also an existing shareholder and affiliate, may also buy USD50 million worth.

Hong Kong-listed Kingsoft announced it would spin off the cloud unit at the end of last year and currently holds 53.8 percent of equity. Xiaomi holds 15.8 percent and FutureX Entities holds 5.7 percent, the prospectus shows. These stakes will fall to 46.8 percent, 13.8 percent and 5 percent after the listing.

The latest public offering could a significant boost for founder Lei Jun, who also controls Kingsoft, Xiaomi and Beijing Kingsoft Office Software, which listed in 2019. Xiaomi is the world’s fourth top smartphone brand by global sales, ranking behind only Samsung, Apple and Huawei Technologies.

Editor: James Boynton