(Yicai) Nov. 24 -- Honor will have an initial public offering one day but it does not intend to do so through a reverse merger, the chief executive officer of the Chinese handset maker said yesterday.

"The rumors swirling about the backdoor listing are affecting Honor's business and so we want to set the record straight," Zhao Ming said yesterday. There is no need to talk about the company’s IPO at this point in time.

Yesterday, Shenzhen-based Honor named Wu Hui, former chairman of Shenzhen Water and Environment Group, as its new chairman. He replaces Wan Biao, who becomes deputy chairman.

The leadership reshuffle is needed to improve the firm’s operations, Zhao said. Wu brings fresh blood to the board of directors and the company will invite more experts from different industries to the board to make its decision-making more informed, he added.

Honor wants to make Europe its second-biggest target market after China and establish a global model for its high-end products in Europe. “At present, Apple occupies nearly 80 percent of the premium market in Europe, but in terms of AI and Internet services, Chinese mobile phone brands have definite advantages,” he said.

Honor started out as a budget smartphone brand of Chinese tech giant Huawei. But in November 2020, Huawei sold it to Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology, a consortium of more than 30 companies under the Shenzhen municipal government, due to US curbs that prevented the firm from buying US technologies. Since the spin off, Honor has started to enter the premium market and to broaden its product portfolio.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor