Leapmotor Files for Hong Kong IPO

Electric vehicle firm Leapmotor submitted an application for a public listing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx) on Thursday, with China International Capital Corporation (CICC), Citi, JPMorgan Chase and CCB International serving as co-sponsors. The move follows a wave of fellow Chinese new energy automakers completing IPOs on the HKEx, including NIO, Li Auto and XPeng.

Leapmotor was established in July 2015, and its CEO Zhu Jiangming is one of the founders of security giant Dahua Tech. Up to now, Leapmotor has obtained financing from Dahua, CICC Capital, Sequoia Fund, Shanghai Electric and other institutions, with a total amount of nearly 10 billion yuan ($1.58 billion).

Leapmotor plans to use new funds for the R&D of electric vehicles, improving its production capacity and enhancing brand awareness.

Up to now, Leapmotor has amassed more than 1,000 R&D personnel, accounting for 33.9% of the total employees of the company. Its R&D expenditure in 2019, 2020 and 2021 was 358 million yuan, 289 million yuan and 740 million yuan respectively.

According to the company’s prospectus, its total income in 2019, 2020 and 2021 was 116.9 million yuan, 631.3 million yuan and 3.132 billion yuan respectively, while the operating losses were about 730 million yuan, 869 million yuan and 2.868 billion yuan respectively.

In 2021, Leapmotor delivered a total of 43,748 electric vehicles, up 443.5% year-on-year, including 634 S01s, 39,149 T03s and 3,964 C11s. In January 2022, the monthly delivery of Leapmotor reached a new high, reaching 8,085 vehicles, up 434% year-on-year.

As of December 31, 2021, the number of stores operated by Leapmotor in China has reached 291, which is three times as many as at the end of 2020.

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Leapmotor plans to launch a pure electric medium-to-large sedan called the C01 in the second quarter of 2022, to begin delivery in the third quarter of 2022. The C01 is to be equipped with Leapmotor Power and a 90 kWh battery. Its cruising range of NEDC is about 700 kilometers, and the acceleration time from 0 to 100 km/h is less than four seconds. Leapmotor also plans to launch one to three new models annually over the next few years, with eight new models released by the end of 2025, covering sedans, SUVs and MPVs.