GAC AION to Conduct A-Round Financing
On August 26, GAC AION’s A-round of capital fundraising was officially listed on the Guangzhou United Assets and Equity Exchange. At the same time, shareholding system reforms of GAC AION were officially started. After the completion of these changes, GAC AION says it will go public in due course, with plans to become the first public new energy vehicle brand on the SSE STAR Market.
On the evening of August 25, the 6th Board of Directors of GAC Group held a meeting, reviewing and approving the capital increase for GAC AION’s A-round financing. During the meeting, the board agreed that GAC AION New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd., a holding subsidiary, will be changed into a joint stock company (subject to the final name’s approval by the registration authority), with May 31, 2022 as the base day for pricing. The shareholding ratio of GAC Group will remain unchanged before and after the shareholding system reforms.
At the same time, the board agreed that GAC AION should implement capital increases and share expansion. This involves conducting A-round financing on the equity exchange through public listing on the basis of the assessed and filed price. The equity held by strategic investors in this round accounts for about 15% of the total equity after financing, and no more than 70 strategic investors are introduced. GAC Group remains its controlling shareholder after the completion of the financing round.
GAC AION revealed that the listing price comprehensively considered the asset appraisal price, with May 31 this year as the base day for pricing, compared with company valuation, investor intention and other factors. According to this price, GAC AION’s valuation before the A-round investment is about 85 billion yuan ($12.29 billion). In addition to the financing of 15 billion yuan, the post-investment valuation of the company is expected to exceed 100 billion yuan.
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According to the announcement, the funds raised from this capital increase and share expansion will be mainly used for the development of new products, the R&D of new-generation batteries and electric driving, and the R&D and layout of core technologies such as intelligent driving, intelligent cockpits, energy ecology and capacity expansion.
In recent years, GAC AION has seen better performance in the new energy vehicle market. From January to July this year, the cumulative sales volume of the firm reached 125,300 units, including over 25,000 units in July.
GAC AION has started construction of a battery R&D trial production line, set up an energy tech firm, and plans to set up an electric driving company and a battery company to realize an independent battery supply chain. It aims to fully develop a layout of energy ecological industrial chain, including upstream raw materials, R&D, manufacturing, battery recycling and battery cascade utilization.
