Reporter Gong Mengze
Since 2022, new car-making forces including Weilai, Weimar, Nezha, Leapmotor, Gaohe and Celis have begun to compete to "take the test" in the capital market.
As the first NIO to be listed in the United States, it announced its secondary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on March 10 this year.
Coincidentally, as a new car-making force that achieved delivery earlier in China, on March 17, Leapmotor submitted a listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
According to the reporter's incomplete statistics, up to now, Leap Motor has received investments from financial and industrial investors such as Sequoia China, Shanghai Electric, and CRRC, with a total amount of nearly 10 billion yuan.
Nezha Motors is also planning to go public in Hong Kong.
Although Zhang Honghan, deputy general manager of Nezha's auto brand center, was tight-lipped to the "Securities Daily" reporter when asked about the IPO in Hong Kong, according to Tianyancha, the company owned by the Nezha brand, Hezhong New Energy, just completed the project in February this year. A new round of financing of more than 2 billion yuan.
Multiple sources speculate that after the completion of the D series financing, Nezha Auto, with a valuation of more than 25 billion yuan, will most likely launch an IPO in Hong Kong within this year.
According to the reporter's observation, the above-mentioned rounds of financing and operations in the capital market all have clear capital uses and medium and long-term plans. A big battle is waiting for the new car-making forces and the capital behind them.
Financing channels are tightening
Listing in Hong Kong becomes a realistic choice
"Early Chinese companies have various motivations to go public in the United States, and financing is only one of them. More companies aim to take advantage of the differences in listing conditions to seek greater development space and freedom." An auto industry securities analyst who did not want to be named told reporters , Take the new power of car building as an example, it must be a loss in the early stage of operation, and it is also the most in need of capital incubation, and US stocks are more tolerant of this.
In addition, "the market valuation is high and liquidity is good, especially the US stock market allows different rights for the same share, allowing the founders of the company to retain more voting rights that are not equal to the shareholding, and also prompts a large number of Chinese companies, including new forces, to go to U.S. listing," said the analyst.
However, since 2019, the United States has gradually increased its restrictions on Chinese stocks.
Especially in April 2020, after Ruixing Coffee exposed financial fraud, the crisis of trust led to the peak of accusations against Chinese stocks, and short selling followed one after another.
Fortunately, the emergence of the Science and Technology Innovation Board during this period has brought hope to many technology companies, including new power car companies.
Among them, Weimar was once considered to be expected to be the first stock of new energy vehicles on the Science and Technology Innovation Board.
At the beginning of February 2021, WM Motor has the conditions for tutoring and acceptance and listing application on the Science and Technology Innovation Board.
In July last year, Shen Hui, founder, chairman and CEO of WM Motor, revealed in an interview with a reporter from Securities Daily: "The progress of the listing cannot be controlled by oneself, but I hope the sooner the better." However, after several months of long waiting , Weimar did not even comment on the statement that the company has chosen to abandon the listing application.
After the failure of the Weimar Science and Technology Innovation Board, Geely Auto, the leader of domestic independent brands, took over the baton, but also returned disappointed.
In fact, after the Sci-tech Innovation Board stepped up the qualification examination of "hard technology" for companies applying for it, it blocked many new forces in the waistline of car-making and incompetent companies that tried to turn over through the concept of "car-making" IPO.
At the same time, "Wei Xiaoli" grabbed the limelight in the capital market, and went to the United States for listing and even returned to Hong Kong for a secondary listing.
At this time, there are still funds and traffic in hand, and the second-tier new forces who intend to grow and develop will turn their attention to IPOs in Hong Kong.
"Diverting" the rapid growth of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange
Betting on the domestic new energy vehicle track
It is indeed a good choice for new car manufacturers to go public in Hong Kong, but some investors have expressed concerns.
As a pure offshore market, Hong Kong stocks are limited in size, and it is difficult for new car-making forces to gain due value recognition.
In this regard, Gao Yunpeng, director of the China New Energy Automobile Industry Innovation Alliance, believes that the current top priority for new forces is financing, and the main means of financing is to find direct investors.
Hong Kong stocks are rich in financial instruments. After a successful listing, the company can directly raise funds by issuing bonds and increasing capital.
The new forces and the capital behind them are scrambling to grab the capital market, and the driving force for the constant "tossing" stems from the optimism and determination of China's new energy vehicle companies in the future.
"Securities Daily" reporters checked Tianyancha data and showed that between 2006 and 2021, there were about 550 financing events in the domestic new energy vehicle field, with a total amount exceeding 320 billion yuan.
Judging from the registration time, over 80% of the enterprises have been registered within 5 years.
It is foreseeable that the sales of new energy vehicles will continue to rise in the next few years, and it is still the most potential investment area.
According to data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in January 2022, the production and sales of new energy vehicles were 452,000 and 431,000 respectively, with a market penetration rate of 17.0%.
Looking forward to 2022, how many new energy vehicles can China sell?
The answer given by the China Automobile Association is 5 million vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 42%, and the market share is expected to exceed 18%; while the Passenger Federation has given a more optimistic prediction, which has the opportunity to exceed 5.5 million vehicles and achieve 70%. of ultra-high growth.
Gao Yunpeng believes that automobiles belong to bulk consumer goods, and the listing will bring wider dissemination and popularity to the brands of car companies, receive more policy support, and stimulate sales to rise.
More importantly, the development of new forces requires more standardized and clear planning to effectively promote the self-innovation of enterprises.
The collective loss of new forces has become the norm
Listing financing has become a must for survival
Although the prospect of the new energy vehicle industry is picturesque, a real problem that cannot be ignored is that Tesla, the global leader in electric vehicles, only achieved profitability for the first time in 2020 after 15 years of losses.
The TOP3 "Wei Xiaoli", a new force in domestic car manufacturing, has not yet escaped the loss-making state.
According to the financial report for the third quarter of 2021, Xiaopeng ranked first with a record net loss of 1.595 billion yuan, followed by Weilai's 835 million yuan and an ideal 21.5 million yuan; the annual delivery volume, Weilai reached 9.1 10,000 vehicles, 98,000 Xpeng vehicles, and 90,000 ideal vehicles.
According to the performance of Tesla, which has already made a profit, overseas analysts will roughly set the turning point of getting rid of losses at 200,000 annual deliveries.
"The listing of new car manufacturers in the U.S. stock market can temporarily alleviate capital needs, but it is almost impossible to make profits through car manufacturing in the short term." Zhang Xiuyang, secretary-general of China Passenger Car Industry Alliance, told reporters that new car manufacturers listed on the market. It has become a necessary option to expand financing channels.
It should be pointed out that although the first to land in the capital market has the opportunity to run at the forefront of the track, even if a successful IPO, it is only the first step on the long road of "money".
While the new car-making forces are using money for scale and time for space, more competitors are also working day and night - including technology giants such as Baidu, Xiaomi, and Huawei, as well as the tradition of accelerating transformation and exploration car company.
"The next three to five years will be the decisive moment for new energy pure electric brand vehicles. Before 2025, after the elimination of the market, the improvement of market concentration and the improvement of brand power, there will inevitably be millions of cars in the Chinese auto market. Vehicle-level new energy pure electric brand, and there may be only a few new car-making forces that can survive." Zhang Xiuyang said.
(Securities Daily)