Exclusive Chinese electric vehicle maker Zeekr is pricing its US IPO at its highest price to raise $441 million, source says From Reuters

Echo Van

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Chinese electric vehicle maker Zeekr Intelligent Technology on Thursday priced its U.S. initial public offering (IPO) at the high end of that range, raising $441 million, a person familiar with the matter said.

Zeekr, the premium brand of Chinese automaker Geely, has upped its IPO size to sell 21 million American depositary shares at $21 a share, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous because the discussions are private. The IPO values ​​Zeekr at $5.1 billion.

The company closed investor orders a day earlier after its IPO was oversubscribed, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

Zikr did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The strong demand for Zeekr’s IPO comes amid a bitter EV price war in China that has squeezed profits, forcing a number of companies to continue expanding outside China, where they can charge more and increase their profits.

Zeekr is one of many Chinese automakers, including BYD (SZ:), SAIC and Great Wall Motor, that have set their sights on Europe with electric models as they seek to compete with legacy European automakers on their own turf.

BYD and state-backed Chery have already announced plans to produce cars in Europe.

Zeekr’s listing marks the first major Chinese stock listing on U.S. stock exchanges in more than a year. Zeekr suspended its IPO plans last year, Reuters previously reported.

Zeekr delivered its first vehicle in October 2021. The company delivered a total of about 196,633 vehicles, mostly to China, according to its IPO data.

Zeekr’s prospectus said total revenue will rise to 51.67 billion yuan ($7.3 billion) in 2023, up from 31.9 billion a year earlier. However, loss from operations widened to 8.18 billion yuan from 7.15 billion.

Cornerstone investors, including Geely, have subscribed to up to $349.1 million worth of shares being sold.

The number of Chinese companies listing shares on the US stock market in the past few years has fallen sharply after Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Global was forced to delist its shares due to a backlash from Chinese regulators.

Chinese IPOs raised a total of $668 million in 2023, up from $13.7 billion raised in 2020, according to Dealogic. Before Zeekr’s IPO this year, Chinese companies raised $52 million by selling shares in the United States.

Zeekr will list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “ZK” on Friday.

Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and CICC are the lead underwriters for the offering.