China-based electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturer Farasis Energy floated on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s Star Market today in a RMB3.4bn ($486m) initial public offering, providing an exit for carmaker Daimler, DealStreetAsia reported.
The company issued just over 214 million shares priced at RMB15.90 each, and its shares closed at RMB27.96 on their first day of trading.
Farasis produces lithium-ion batteries for the transport sector, and maintains research and development centres in the United States and Germany as well as its home country.
The proceeds from the offering will be used to expand the company’s manufacturing capacity. It generated about $350m in revenue in 2019 resulting in a net profit of approximately $18.7m, according to figures in the IPO prospectus cited by DealStreetAsia.
The company raised an amount reported by DealStreetAsia to be $193m earlier this month, from Daimler – also known as Mercedes Benz – as well as China Insurance Investment Fund, Jiangsu Soho Holdings and Huatai Securities’ Zhejiang Hanrui Holdings fund.
Daimler invested in the July round having formed a strategic partnership with Farasis in 2018. It followed $793m in a series C round funding from China Venture Capital Fund, China Industrial Fund, Dongxing Securities and China V Fund early the same year.
BAIC Capital, the investment arm of automotive manufacturer BAIC, is also among the company’s shareholders, as are financial services firm Industrial Bank, Golden Sunflower Capital, Reiter Capital, Benefit Capital and Zhejiang Heico Holding Group, according to DealStreetAsia.
Chinese Huatai United Securities was lead underwriter for the offering while Citic Securities and Soochow Securities were joint sponsors.
