MiniMax Shares Drop on $2 Billion Fundraising Plan

By Tracy Qu

Shares of MiniMax dropped, after the Chinese artificial-intelligence company disclosed a plan to raise $2 billion through a share placement and convertible-bond offering.

The Shanghai-based company plans to raise about 9.54 billion Hong Kong dollars, equivalent to US$1.22 billion, by placing 35.6 million shares at HK$268.00 each. The price represents a 9.89% discount to the last closing price of HK$297.40 a share, MiniMax said Friday.

Additionally, the company plans to issue zero-coupon bonds to raise an additional HK$6.5 billion. The bonds can be converted into 19.4 million shares at an initial conversion price of HK$335.00 a share, representing a 12.64% premium to last closing price.

The stock was 12% lower at HK$260.80 at the midday break, underperforming the Hang Seng Tech Index's 2.7% gain.

Share prices usually drop when companies offer convertible bonds, as they lead to equity dilution for existing shareholders.

MiniMax plans to use the proceeds from the share placement and convertible-bond offering to build AI infrastructure and conduct research and development. Morgan Stanley and UBS are the placing agents for MiniMax.

The fundraising comes as AI companies increase spending on computing infrastructure and large-language-model development. On Thursday, Zhipu AI revealed plans to raise $4 billion to support growth.

Last month, DeepSeek raised more than US$7.4 billion in its first funding round to support business expansion. That deal valued the Chinese firm at more than US$50 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

MiniMax's share price is likely to remain under pressure in the near term, Citi analysts said in a research note. "We believe negative sentiment, uncertainty over user retention and monetization strategy are likely to remain near-term overhangs," they said.

Write to Tracy Qu at tracy.qu@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 10, 2026 00:27 ET (04:27 GMT)