Li Auto, a China-based electric vehicle (EV) producer backed by corporates Meituan Dianping, Shougang, Bytedance, InTime, Taiping, Ping An and Leo Group, priced its shares at $11.50 yesterday to raise $1.1bn in its IPO.
The company issued 95 million American Depositary Shares (ADSs), representing 190 million ordinary shares.
Shares opened at $15.50 on the first day of trading and reached a high of $17.50, before closing at $16.46. The company has listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market using the ticker symbol LI.
In addition to the initial public offering, mobile services portal Meituan Dianping and digital media company Bytedance committed to purchasing $330m and $30m in a concurrent private placement.
An entity called Kevin Sunny Holding committed to buying $20m through the private placement.
Founded as Chehejia and also known as CHJ Automotive and Lixiang, Li Auto produces smart sports utility EVs.
Pump and gardening equipment maker Leo Group led a $120m series A round in 2016, before Li Auto added $151m in a 2017 round co-led by insurance firms China Taiping and Ping An and backed by asset manager China Merchants Wealth.
Shougang Fund, a vehicle for steel producer Shougang, co-led a $475m series B round in early 2018 with Matrix Partners China. The round also featured department store chain Intime, Source Code Capital, BlueRun Ventures, Minshi Hexun Capital and Fancheng Capital.
Li Auto subsequently raised $530m in an August 2019 round led by Wang Xing, with contributions from Bytedance and Xiang Li.
Li Auto most recently raised $550m in a June 2020 round led by Meituan Dianping, with participation from founder, chairman and chief executive Xiang Li and Kevin Sunny Holding.
Approximately half of the proceeds from the IPO and the concurrent placement has been allocated to capital expenditures for the next three years, expected to be around $1.5bn. Some 40% will fund new product development and the remainder will serve as working capital.
Xiang Li will remain Li Auto’s largest shareholder, seeing his stakeholding – held through a vehicle called Amp Lee – diluted from 25.1% to 21.3%.
Meituan Dianping’s stake, held by Inspired Elite Investments, will increase from 14.5% to 15.4% thanks to the private placement, while its shareholding held by Zijin Global will drop from 8.9% to 7.9%. Family office Rainbow Six will see its stake reduce from 6.1% to 5.2%.
Goldman Sachs (Asia), Morgan Stanley & Co, UBS Securities, China International Capital Corporation Hong Kong Securities, Tiger Brokers (NZ) and SNB Finance Holdings are acting as underwriters for the offering. They have a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 14.25 million ADSs.
– Image courtesy of Li Auto
