On February 15, the news was announced that The parent company of Nezha Automobile, a new car-making company, was once again listed, and it was reported that they had started to go public in Hong Kong and would raise US$1 billion, sponsored by CITIC, CICC, Morgan Stanley and UBS.
For this rumor, United Motors said that it would not comment.
In November 2021, it was announced that United Motors would go public in Hong Kong, and rumors at the time predicted that their earliest listing time would be in 2022. At present, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange already has Xiaopeng Automobile and Ideal Automobile, two listed companies that are new car-making forces.
The full name of United Automobile is United New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd., founded in 2014, they obtained the vehicle production qualification in 2017, and began to sell the first mass-produced new energy model Nezha N01 in November 2018, the cumulative sales of Nezha Automobile in 2020 was 15,091 units, and their annual sales reached 69,674 units in 2021, an increase of 362% year-on-year.
In 2021, a major turning point for Nezha Automobile was to obtain investment from 360 Company, and Zhou Hongyi, founder of 360, also took this opportunity to officially enter the car industry. In April, October and December 2021, 360 Company has participated in the investment of Nezha Automobile three times, and they have now held a total of 16.594% of the equity of Nezha Automobile, becoming the second largest shareholder of the company.
When talking about why it crossed from the Internet to the car-making industry, Zhou Hongyi once revealed: "I entered this field from a huge impulse, because I firmly believe that the combination of the Internet and traditional industries can represent the second half of the Internet, and I am not willing to stand idly by when this huge opportunity that can change China's future comes." ”
As for why he invested in Nezha Automobile instead of other new energy vehicle companies, Zhou Hongyi also has his own logic, he believes that it is necessary to invest in a start-up company, rather than the existing zhuqiang. At that time, Zhou Hongyi finally chose Nezha Automobile from 6 brands with annual sales of more than 10,000 vehicles.
Compared with the direct car-making of big guys such as Lei Jun and Li Yinan, Zhou Hongyi chose a seemingly simpler path and directly participated in the car-making industry in the form of investors.
If the rumors of the listing of Hezhong New Energy Vehicle are true, then Zhou Hongyi will be the first to usher in a milestone moment of car building than Lei Jun and Li Yinan.
In addition, in 2021, Nezha Automobile also obtained the investment of battery giant Ningde Era, which undoubtedly allowed Nezha Automobile to have a certain supply guarantee in the upstream of the battery industry chain.
The financing history of Nezha Automobile
At present, the new energy car manufacturing industry has also entered a state of fierce competition, from the delivery volume in January 2022, Nezha Automobile has surpassed Weilai Automobile with the performance of delivering 11,009 vehicles, and entered the top three of the new car-making forces.
In the future, whether Nezha Automobile can continue such a strong growth trend, we will continue to pay attention to it.