Chinese electric automaker Xpeng Motors is seeking to raise up to $1.1 billion through an initial public offering. The company has filed to sell 85 million American Depositary Shares, with each representing two ordinary shares in the company.
In a regulatory filing, the company said it is pricing the stock at between $11 and $13 per share. At the top of its range, it would be valued at about $9.2 billion.
Xpeng, based in Guangzhou, was founded in 2015. Early backers include Alibaba, Xiaomi, and Sequoia Capital. The company has raised at least $1.6 billion from investors including Simplicity Holding, Taobao China, Efficiency Investment, and GGV Capital.
The company’s G3 SUV was one of the top three electric vehicles in its class in China by sales in 2019, according to the filing. The company is also planning to add a new sedan to its lineup sometime next year.
The offering comes even as trade tensions worsen between China and the United States.
On August 6, the President’s Working Group (PWG) on Financial Markets issued a warning to U.S. regulators to require greater access to the accounts of Chinese companies that are seeking to list on U.S. exchanges, citing the Chinese government’s failure to support auditing standards.
“The PWG unanimously recommends that the Securities and Exchange Commission take steps to enhance the listing standards on U.S. exchanges for access to audit work papers, among other recommendations,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who chairs the PWG, said.
In May, China-based Luckin Coffee fired its chief executive officer and chief financial officer amid disclosures that sales had been fraudulently inflated. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump issued executive orders banning TikTok and WeChat, social media apps, from operating in the U.S.
Xpeng said it plans to use the proceeds from the IPO on research and development of smart vehicles and general corporate purposes.
The company plans to start trading under the ticker symbol “XPEV.”