by Julie Zhu and Scott Murdoch
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Zeekr, the electric car brand of Chinese automaker Geely, has confidentially filed for a US IPO to raise more than $1 billion (€948.32 million), three sources told Reuters .
Zeekr is seeking a valuation of more than $10 billion, two of the sources said, in what would be the first major Chinese listing in the US in more than a year and a half.
In its first external fundraising round last year, Zeekr was valued at around $9 billion.
The project comes as the brand, a competitor to Tesla and its Chinese counterpart Nio, aims to market its first and only 001 model, an electric crossover, in Europe next year. It joins a growing number of Chinese automakers looking to launch or expand EV sales in the region.
Zeekr filed its application with U.S. regulators last week and expects to go public in New York as early as the second quarter of 2023, two of the cited sources and a fourth said, all of whom requested anonymity.
According to two of the sources, Zeekr had also considered listing in Hong Kong, but chose New York in hopes of getting a higher valuation.
Geely, head of public relations at Zeekr, declined to comment. In October, the group declared its intention to separate from Zeekr, without however specifying the place of listing or the value of the offer.
Zeekr was founded by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group in April 2021 to tap into China’s growing demand for premium EVs and launched the 001 crossover in China the same year.
Beijing tightened its scrutiny over overseas listings of Chinese companies in July last year after a cybersecurity investigation at Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Global the day after its listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
An IPO could also pave the way for higher sales of Chinese stocks in the US, seen as the largest pool of capital in the world and offering a more predictable pricing pace.
In 2022, just five Chinese companies entered the US market, raising a total of $162.5 million. The largest offer, from hotel group Atour Lifestyle Holdings in November, was $52.25 million.
By comparison, $12.8 billion was raised last year.
(Julie Zhu and Kane Wu in Hong Kong, Scott Murdoch in Sydney; French version by Dagmarah Mackos, edited by Kate Entringer)
