The IPO Buzz: China’s ZEEKR (ZK) Prices Upsized IPO at $21 – High End

Twenty-one million ADS at $21 each: China’s battery-powered EV maker ZEEKR Intelligent Technology Holding Limited (ZK) announced early today – Friday, May 10, 2024 – that it priced its IPO – upsized at pricing to 21.0 million American Depositary Shares (ADS) – at $21.00 each – the high end of its $18.00-to-$21.00 range – to raise $441.0 million on Thursday night, May 9, 2024. The company’s announcement confirmed the pricing news – reported by Reuters in an exclusive story published online before the closing bell on Thursday, May 9, 2024.  ZEEKR’s stock is expected to start trading today – Friday, May 10, 2024 – on the New York Stock Exchange. The IPO’s size was increased by 3.5 million ADS from the number of shares – 17.5 million ADS – in the prospectus. Each ADS represents 10 ordinary shares. ZEEKR’s IPO marks the largest U.S. IPO by a Chinese company since 2021. ZEEKR is not profitable, according to the prospectus. ZEEKR reported a net loss of $1.16 billion on revenue of $7.28 billion for the 12 months that ended Dec. 31, 2023, according to financial statements in the prospectus. The increase in the IPO’s size at pricing gave ZEEKR a market cap of about $5.19 billion, based on the upsized pricing, and not including stock options. Goldman Sachs (Asia) L.L.C., Morgan Stanley Asia Limited, Merrill Lynch (Asia Pacific) Limited (BofA Securities) and CICC (China International Capital Corporation) acted as the leading joint book-runners for ZEEKR’s U.S. IPO. China’s Geely Auto spun off ZEEKR in the IPO. Geely Auto, however, will still be the controlling shareholder with about 50.8 percent of the voting power of the company’s outstanding stock after the IPO, according to the prospectus. Insider interest was strong, along with interest from third-party investors – for an aggregate total of US$349.08 million of ADS in the IPO, according to indications of interest disclosed in the prospectus: * Geely Auto, the controlling shareholder, indicated that it was in for up to US$320.0 million, but Reuters reported that Geely Auto took only $271 million in stock, according to a person familiar with the situation, while * Mobileye, the autonomous driving technology company that has a collaboration with ZEEKR, was in for up to US$10.0 million, and * CATL, a Chinese manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries for EVs and a ZEEKR supplier, was in for up to US$19.08 million. ZEEKR’s U.S. IPO came at a challenging time of intense price competition in the EV sector and geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China. ZEEKR Intelligent Technology Holding Limited, based in Zhejiang province, is a “fast-growing BEV technology company,” the prospectus says. BEV stands for battery-powered electric vehicle. The company’s current product portfolio includes ZEEKR 001, a five-seater cross-over hatchback vehicle model introduced in April 2021; ZEEKR 009, a luxury six-seater model for families and businesses, and ZEEKR X, a compact SUV model introduced in April 2023. (For more information about these companies, please check the IPO Calendar and the individual IPO Profiles found on IPOScoop.com’s website.) Note: Never trade on proposed symbols. They have been known to change and you might buy something on the OTC Bulletin Board. To see what time the NASDAQ IPOs are expected to trade, please log in to: NASDAQTrader.com then scroll down to IPO Message. Disclosure: Nobody on the IPOScoop.com staff has a position in any stocks mentioned above, nor do they trade or invest in IPOs. The IPOScoop.com staff does not issue advice, recommendations or opinions. Disclaimer: A SCOOP Rating (Wall Street Consensus of Opening-day Premiums) is a general consensus taken, at press time, from Wall Street and investment professionals concerning how well an IPO might perform when it starts trading. The SCOOP Rating does not reflect the opinions of anyone associated with IPOScoop.com. The SCOOP ratings should not be taken as investment advice. The rating merely reflects the opinion of the professionals at the time of publication and is subject to last-minute changes due to market conditions, changes in a specific offering and other factors, such as changes in the proposed offering terms and the shifting of investor interest in the IPO. The information offered is taken from sources we believe to be reliable, but we cannot guarantee the accuracy.