Reuters reports Wednesday, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter, that Zeekr, the premium electric vehicle branch of China's Geely (HK:0175), is planning to engage with international investors starting from the end of August. This effort aims to gauge interest in a $1 billion initial public offering (IPO) in the United States. Individuals familiar with the situation have provided this information.
According to two of the people, Zeekr aims for the share offering to result in a valuation exceeding $13B, a benchmark they previously reached through a private funding round of $750 million in February.
Over a span of two weeks, Zeekr plans to convene with investors across various global locations including Hong Kong, Singapore, London, New York, Boston, California, and the Middle East, according to the sources.
They further revealed that the eventual size of the deal will be contingent upon the prevailing financial market conditions later in the year.
If successful, a $1B initial public offering (IPO) would stand as the most substantial U.S. listing by a Chinese company in over two years, a record set by the ride-hailing titan Didi when it raised $4.4B in the middle of 2021. However, valuations of new Chinese stocks in the U.S. have slowed due to heightened scrutiny from Chinese regulatory bodies concerning domestic enterprises seeking overseas listings.
Zeekr currently offers three models starting at 189,800 yuan ($26,042) through 499,000 yuan. The company only recently unveiled its inaugural luxury sports car earlier this month. In the previous year, the automaker managed to deliver 72,000 vehicles, and for the ongoing year, they are targeting a delivery volume of 140,000 vehicles. Additionally, Zeekr has outlined its intentions to introduce vehicle sales in the Netherlands, Sweden, Israel, and Kazakhstan.