Li Auto Sets Hong Kong Offering Price at HK $118

Beijing-based EV firm Li Auto has priced its upcoming Hong Kong offering at HK$118 ($15.16) per share, according to an official company announcement on the evening of August 6. Class A ordinary shares in the company are scheduled to begin trading on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Thursday.

The company will issue up to 10 million Class A ordinary shares in Hong Kong at this time, representing 10% of the total number of such shares initially available under a global offering. According to the announced issue price, it is estimated that Li Auto will raise up to HK$11.8 billion in the process.

On July 30 of last year, Li Auto went public on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “LI.” Within one year, the company started to plan for another listing in Hong Kong. This also will make the firm just the second domestic carmaker to successfully double-list, following Xpeng Motors.

The prospectus shows the total net losses of Li Auto was 4.483 billion yuan ($692 million) from 2018 to the first quarter of 2021. In 2020, its gross profit turned positive. The latest data shows that the net losses attributed to the parent company owner in the first quarter of 2021 expanded to 360 million yuan, 4.7 times the loss in the same period last year.

The company believes the losses mainly stemmed from investment in R&D and autonomous driving schemes. Additionally, self-built factories and greatly increased marketing expenses also have affected their business performance.

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The company started the mass production of its Ideal ONE model in November 2019, and launched the upgraded version of Ideal ONE 2021 on May 25 this year. As of June 30, 2021, the sales volume of Ideal ONE reached 63,000 vehicles. In July this year, the company delivered a total of 8,589 Ideal ONE vehicles, up 251% year-on-year and 11% quarter-on-quarter. This achievement took the monthly sales crown away from NIO and Xpeng.

In addition, the company plans to launch a brand-new “X” platform in 2022, on the basis of which it intends to develop a full-sized luxury extended-range electric SUV in the same year. In 2023, it plans to launch two high-voltage pure EVs. Under this plan, the company will launch at least two new pure EVs every year.