NIO Automobile Submits U.S. Prospectus, Looking to IPO on the NYSE
NIO Automobile submitted its prospectus to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. It plans to raise up to US$1.8 billion, which will be the largest listing of a Chinese auto company in the United States.
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Li Bin, founder and CEO of NIO Automobile, said in an open letter in the foreword of the prospectus that 50 million shares, i.e. one-third of the total shares, will be transferred to “user trust fund.” It will guarantee that users’ voting rights and benefits will be decided through discussions and voting. The “user trust fund” initiative is said to be reflective of Li Bin’s concept of a user-first enterprise.
As of June 30, 2018, NIO‘s total revenue was 45.59 million yuan ($7 million), which come from two parts: automobile sales income of 44.4 million yuan and other revenue of 1.6 million yuan. It incurred a loss of $526 million.
The $1.8 billion raised will be used in areas of research and development of products, services and technologies; sales and marketing and development of sales channels including NIO Houses; production facility development and supply chain launch, as well as use and working capital.
NIO released the ES8 in December last year, delivered the first batch of 10 vehicles to internal employees in May this year, and began to deliver the goods to external users in June. As of July 31, NIO had a total of 17,000 valid orders, produced more than 1,300 ES8, and delivered 481 of them.
NIO‘s second mass-produced electric SUV, the ES6, positioned below the ES8, will be launched at the end of this year. The new car will be officially delivered in the first half of next year.
NIO plans to launch a new model every year after the ES8: five-seater medium-sized SUVs ES6, five-seater compact SUVs ES3, Cross Coupe ET5, sedan ET3 and MPV EF9.
In its prospectus, it reads that Li Bin will hold 17.2 percent of the company, Tencent with 15.2 percent, Gaochun Capital with 7.5 percent, and 1.4 percent for Padmasree Warrior, NIO‘s CEO in North America, and 1.7 percent for Li Xiang, another founder of NIO.
As of March 31 this year, NIO has obtained 2,732 patents and completed more than $2.4 billion in financing. As of July 31, 2018, the startup has established and operated 7 NIO House, NIO users centers and 53 stores. By the end of this year, 60 to 80 NIO electrical substations are expected to be put into use, and NIO will invest 400 to 500 mobile charging vehicles.
