Geely Subsidiary Zeekr Confirms Application for U.S. Listing

Chinese vehicle manufacturer Geely Automobile announced through the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on December 13 that its subsidiary Zeekr, a premium electric car brand, has submitted a draft registration statement for a possible IPO to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on a confidential basis.

In the announcement issued by Geely Automobile, the company stated that, in view of industry trends and current state of its subsidiary, Zeekr, the proposed spin-off will enhance the value of the Chinese EV firm. The listing will also enable it to develop independently and fully release its potential, thus benefiting company shareholders. Upon completion of the proposed spin-off, it is expected that Zeekr will continue to be a non-wholly owned subsidiary of Geely Automobile.

Zeekr was previously reported to have applied for an IPO in the United States and plans to raise more than $1 billion. The company plans to list as early as the second quarter of 2023. Sources have disclosed that Zeekr previously considered Hong Kong as its listing place, and finally chose New York in the hope of obtaining a higher valuation, which it now expects to exceed $10 billion. Regarding the reports, on December 13, a spokesperson for Zeekr said the company had no comment at the moment.

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As early as last August, Zeekr received $500 million USD of Pre-A investment from five companies including Intel Capital, and the company was valued at $9 billion US after financing. Subsequently, some media reported that Zeekr would consider and IPO and the listing place might be in the United States and Hong Kong. Geely declined to comment on IPO rumors at that time.

One year after obtaining the Pre-A round of financing, Zeekr saw a turning point of “independent listing”. In October this year, Geely Automobile announced that it had submitted a document on “proposing to split Zeekr and list it independently” to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. At the same time, the stock exchange has confirmed that the company can carry out the proposed spin-off.

Although Zeekr has maintained a non-comment attitude towards its independent listing, “the delivery of 70,000 vehicles” has always been one of its main goals this year.

According to official data, 11,011 Zeekr vehicles were delivered in November, and a total of 66,611 vehicles were delivered from January to November this year. At the same time, the company said that with the further improvement of the supply chain, it is expected that the delivery cycle of the Zeekr 001 pure electric sedan will be shortened to 4-6 weeks, and the orders in the first half of December will be delivered before the end of the year. Therefore, the delivery target of 70,000 vehicles this year can basically be achieved.

In addition to the Zeekr 001, the newer Zeekr 009, the second mass production model of the brand, was also launched in November this year and started pre-sale. After the new model is delivered in January next year, it will help further increase the delivery volume of the company. According to the previous plan, the company is expected to reach its annual sales target of 650,000 vehicles in 2025, and at the same time become one of the top three in the global EV market.

Since the beginning of this year, the capital of new energy vehicle companies has continued. After electric vehicle firm Leapmotor became the fourth new car company to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange after NIO, XPeng Motors and Li Auto. Another EV firm, NETA Auto, completed the D3 round of financing in July this year, while its IPO has been delayed.