China-based smart vehicle developer Nio has confidentially filed for an initial public offering in the US that would allow corporates Lenovo, Tencent, Baidu and JD.com to exit, Bloomberg reported yesterday.
The company could potentially raise $2bn in the offering, people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg, though preparations are still relatively early. It expects to begin taking investor orders in the summer or early autumn of this year.
Formerly known as NextEV, Nio has developed an all-electric sports utility vehicle that it began selling in December 2017 as well as a sports car, both of which are equipped with autonomous driving technology and an in-car intelligence system.
The IPO would follow at least $2bn in funding, including $1bn raised from internet group Tencent, Lone Pine Capital, Citic Capital and Baillie Gifford in November 2017 at a $5bn valuation.
Tencent, e-commerce group JD.com and Shunwei Capital had provided an undisclosed amount of funding for Nio in 2015, the same year the company secured $500m from the same three investors as well as Hillhouse Capital, Sequoia Capital and Joy Capital.
Electronics producer Lenovo, TPG, Temasek and Hopu Investment Management added an undisclosed sum the following year. Nio raised $87m in a March 2017 round co-led by Tencent and internet group Baidu and backed by Lenovo, IDG Capital, TPG, Hillhouse Capital and GIC Private that boosted its total funding to $1bn.
Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and UBS have been appointed underwriters for the IPO, Reuters reported in February this year.