China EV startup Nio files for US IPO

Nio, China's electric vehicle startup, issued a prospectus with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company plans to raise up to $1.8 billion. The joint underwriters include Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank Securities, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, UBS Investment Bank and Wolfe Capital Markets and Advisory.

In its prospectus, Nio said during the first six months of 2018 its revenue totaled 45.99 million yuan ($6.68 million), among which revenue from auto sales stood at 44.39 million yuan.

However, Nio has not made a profit so far. Files showed that in 2016, 2017, and the first six months of 2018, the company had a net loss of 2.57 billion yuan, 5.01 billion yuan and 3.33 billion yuan respectively.

According to the prospectus, Nio's three largest shareholders are founder and CEO Li Bin with 17.2 percent, Tencent with 15.2 percent and Hillhouse Capital with 7.5 percent. Other shareholders include Li Xiang, founder of CHJ Automotive with 1.7 percent and Nio North American CEO Padmasree Warrior with 1.4 percent.

As of July 31, Nio has raised more than $2.4 billion, the prospectus showed. In November, Nio raised more than $1 billion in its latest fundraising round led by Tencent, which valued the former at about $5 billion.

Shanghai-based Nio launched sales of its first mass production car ES8 electric sport utility vehicle late last year. The company had delivered 481 ES8s by the end of last month.

In December, Nio and Guangzhou-based GAC Motor announced a joint venture to develop their smart car business. Earlier, Nio had been working with several companies, including Chongqing Changan Automobile Co, Tencent Holdings and Continental AG.