Li Auto, a Chinese electric vehicle maker, will raise up to $950 million in its initial public offering debut, media reports said. This marks one of the biggest US listings by Chinese companies this year.
It is reported that the Meituan Dianping backed Chinese company plans to sell 95 million American depositary shares (ADS). The indicative range of each share will range between $8 to $10 where two class A ordinary shares will fall under each ADS.
During its IPO filing, Li Auto confirmed that Hillhouse Capital, a private equity firm plans to pump US$300 in the float. The $950 million listing will take over the $510 float by Kingsoft Cloud, a cloud service provider.
In addition, Li Auto is also planning to raise capital through its British Virgin Islands-incorporated unit including Bytedance, TikTok app’s owner through a Hong Kong unit. The capital is worth $380 million. Majority of the funding will be used for R&D, capital expenditure and rolling out of new products. The company is also developing Li ONE extended-range electric SUVs.
The IPO will start its journey on the Nasdaq composite under the symbol Li from July 30. The underwriters for the IPO are CICC, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
With the new IPO launch, the US investors are expected to stay afloat in the market amid Covid-19 pandemic. For Li Auto, it’s a strong move to challenge other Chinese counterparts who are yet to launch their IPOs.