Chinese smartphone and telecommunications equipment manufacturer Huawei is reportedly looking to fund an expansion of its smartphone business with a $2 billion bond offering.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the company is planning to sell a 10-year, U.S. dollar denominated bond, but is still working out the details with banks. The size of the deal could change before the deal closes, the report said. The transaction could wrap up as early as this month, according to the report.
The money raised from the transaction would reportedly go to boost research, marketing and sales for Huawei’s smartphone business as the company looks to strengthen its position against top competitors Apple and Samsung.
Huawei is currently number three in terms of smartphone market share, but has been gaining ground on Apple’s number two position.
In 2015, Huawei became the first Chinese smartphone-maker to pass the 100 million unit mark for smartphone shipments in a given year with a total of 108 million units shipped. That figure compares with 320 million units shipped by Samsung and 227 million devices shipped by Apple.
At last week’s Huawei Analyst Summit in Shenzhen, China, Huawei’s rotating CEO Eric Xu said the company is hoping to crack the number two spot and turn itself into the first Chinese high-end consumer brand within a decade or less.
“Up until now, China has not yet produced a high-end consumer brand,” Xu said. “Therefore we want to take that as a mission, and hopefully in the next five to ten years we can do that.”
As part of that goal, Huawei Consumer Business Group CMO Glory Zhang said last week the company will ramp up efforts to increase brand awareness and will launch a new, playful marketing campaign.
Despite an increase of 11 percentage points from 2014 to 2015, Huawei’s brand awareness currently stands at 76 percent globally, compared with 98 percent for Samsung and 93 percent for Apple, Zhang said.
Though network equipment remains Huawei’s largest business segment, the company has already seen success growing its smartphone brand.
Earlier this month, Huawei reported its 2015 profit received a hefty 32 percent boost on the back of strong smartphone sales and network upgrade gear.