Chinese Tesla, Nio Rival Xpeng Files To Go Public On NYSE

Chinese electric vehicle maker XPeng Inc. filed for an initial public offering with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission Friday. 

What Happened

The Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA-backed company said it would list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “XPEV.”

Xpeng didn't reveal how many Class A shares it would be offering or their pricing, but said it intended to sell about 429.8 million Class B ordinary shares. It put a placeholder number of $100 million as amount it expected to raise in the IPO; companies typically reveal the actual amount they expect to raise in later filings. 

Credit Suisse Group AG CS, JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM, and Bank of America BAC are serving as the underwriters for the offering.

Why It Matters

The electric vehicle maker raised $400 million ahead of the filing from Alibaba, along with the Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, CNBC reported last week.

In July, the automaker raised $500 million from Hillhouse Capital, Coatue Management, Aspex, and Sequoia Capital's local division.

In total, Xpeng has raised $2.6 billion as of its latest Series C funding round, according to Crunchbase.

Xpeng started delivering its P7 sports sedan in June; the car competes with Tesla Inc’s TSLA Model 3. 

Local EV competitor Nio Inc NIO raised $1 billion in its IPO in September 2018. Its shares have risen 234% YTD. Late last month, another Chinese EV maker Li Auto Inc LI raised $1.1 billion in its IPO.

The U.S. Senate passed a law in May that seeks to delist Chinese companies on domestic exchanges.

The EV maker addressed the law in its filing noting, the legislation "may have a material and adverse impact on the stock performance of China-based issuers listed in the United States."

Photo courtesy: XPeng Inc.