Xiaomi gains new $1-billion loan to drive retail push

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi said on Friday it had signed a deal for a new $1-billion loan to accelerate its drive into brick-and-mortar stores and help a push overseas.
 

The three-year syndicated loan comes as China’s tech giants look to diversify their businesses as e-commerce growth slows, with rivals from Baidu to Alibaba pushing into new areas from cloud computing to artificial intelligence. It follows a three-year $1-billion syndicated loan in 2014. Xiaomi has seen a recent return to form in phone sales after being hit by competition from rival Huawei Technologies and brands Vivo and Oppo.