Chinese EV Manufacturer Xpeng Motors Files for IPO on NYSE

Xpeng Motors formally filed an initial public offering with the SEC in the early morning of August 8 to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol “XPEV,” without specifying its IPO price range, the number of shares or financing volume on its prospectus.

The company plans to raise up to $100 million in the IPO but the number is likely to be an estimate as the amount is probably much higher than the current value, IPO Center reported.

Underwriters of this IPO include Credit Suisse, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America Securities.

According to the prospectus, Xpeng completed a series C+ round of financing with an issuance of about 207,588,515 Series C preferred shares to 27 investors in August of this year and raised $900 million in total so far.

Except for the $500 million in the C+ round raised last month with firms such as Aspex, Coatue, Hillhouse Capital, and Sequoia Capital China, Xpeng is reported to have received an additional $400 million from its main investors, among which are Alibaba, Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, and Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, as Pandaily reported earlier.

Founded in 2015, Xpeng produces two main types of vehicles: an SUV (the G3) and a four-door sports sedan (the P7) with a price range of 150,000 yuan to 300,000 yuan. The company cited the IHS Markit Report in its filing that the G3 was one of the three best-selling electric SUVs in China last year. The P7 has a range of up to 706 kilometers on a single charge, which topped the list of the existing domestic electric vehicles.

Xpeng started to ramp-up production of the G3 in November 2018 and the P7 in May 2020. As of July 31, 2020, Xpeng Motors has delivered a total of 18,741 units of the G3 and 1,966 units of the P7, the company said in its filing, adding that it will launch its third smart electric vehicle, a sedan, in 2021.

SEE ALSO: Xpeng Motors Raises $400 Million Before US Listing

Xpeng’s net income in 2018 was approximately 9.7 million yuan, of which revenue from vehicle sales and other services accounted for 42.8% and 57.2%, respectively, Chinese media the Latest IPO reported. In 2019, the company’s operating income was 2.121 billion yuan, with vehicle sales accounting for 93.5%.

In 2020, Xpeng’s operating income reached 1.002 billion yuan, slightly lower than the 1.231 billion yuan in the same period of 2019. The delivery volume in the first six months of this year fell from last year’s 7,165 to 5,499, according to the prospectus.

Xpeng stated in its report of risk factors that the company had closed its manufacturing facilities sometime in February and March, adding that the company had switched to alternative suppliers when, due to the coronavirus outbreak, some had failed to deliver the necessary components to Xpeng.

The company has not been profitable yet and has had negative cash flows since its inception. In its filing, Xpeng said it had incurred net losses of 1,398.8 million yuan in 2018, 3,691.7 million yuan in 2019, and 795.8 million yuan in the first half of 2020.

As of June 30, 2020, the company’s cash and cash equivalents reached 1.061 billion yuan. With the completion of its two rounds of C+ and C++ financing with a value of $900 million, the cash and cash equivalents held by Xpeng before the IPO will exceed 7 billion yuan, surpassing its local rivals NIO and Li Auto which listed their shares in the US in 2018 and in July of this year, the Latest IPO reported.

Xpeng will be listed on the NYSE in early September under the current plan and become the third domestic EV maker listed in the US. The Latest IPO reported that, according to Friday’s US stock closing prices, the market capitalization of NIO and Li Auto were approximately $15.9 billion and $14.1 billion respectively.