Produced by the IPO group of the company's research office
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"Internet celebrity executives" replace beautiful car models, perhaps the biggest shock to the automobile circle and the audience at the Beijing Auto Show that ended not long ago.
Lei Jun, Wang Chuanfu, Wei Jianjun, Li Bin, Li Xiang, He Xiaopeng, Zhou Hongyi, etc. all made progress to support the field, and Lei Jun was surrounded everywhere he went.
Zhu Ling, vice president of ZEEKR Intelligent Technology, sighed, "The biggest change in this year's Beijing Auto Show is that the bosses of car companies have all brought goods, and the era of traffic has begun." ”
However, at the lively Beijing Auto Show, Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Automobile, was nowhere to be seen. As far as the Beijing Auto Show is concerned, Li Shufu is low-key.
However, during the auto show, Li Shufu successively launched two IPOs to the market - Cao Cao Travel and Zeekr. As far as the capital market is concerned, he is extremely high-profile.
On May 10, with the listing of ZEEKR on the New York Stock Exchange, Li Shufu has nine listed companies.
In the 3 years since its establishment, in terms of the number of product releases and the listing process, the development of ZEEKR has been extremely fast. What is the relationship between this and Geely?
In addition, in the past four years, Li Shufu and Geely have continued to expand their listing territory. Since 2022, Polestar, ECARX, and Lotus have been listed on the US stock market through IPOs or SPACs.
However, the current stock prices of the above three companies have fallen to a certain extent compared with the initial stage of listing. Lotus, which will go public in February 2024, has fallen more than 40% from its first day of listing.
ZEEKR rose 34.57% on the first day of listing, with a market value of $6.898 billion. Next, how will ZEEKR perform?
1. Twists and turns are difficult to stop the determination to go public
In the domestic auto circle, Li Shufu may be the car boss who is best at capital operation, and Geely under his leadership may also be the car company that is best at capital operation.
As an electric vehicle brand under Geely Automobile, Zeekrypton, founded in March 2021, is a new car-making force that breaks away from traditional car companies.
Perhaps at the beginning of its establishment, ZEEKR was determined to go public. Now, Li Shufu, a capital "veteran", has finally put Zeekr on the market.
On May 10, Eastern time, ZEEKR was listed on the New York Stock Exchange, up 34% on the first day, and Li Shufu took the ninth listed company into his arms.
Before looking at ZEEKR's financial performance, models and possible future plans, let's first understand the twists and turns of ZEEKR's road to market.
In October 2022, Geely Automobile announced on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it had submitted a proposal to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange regarding the proposal to spin off Zeekr and list it independently. At that time, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange had confirmed that Geely Automobile could be spun off, but the terms of the spin-off, including the listing location, offering size, and price range, had not yet been determined.
Only one year and seven months after its establishment, ZEEKR couldn't hold back its desire to go public.
However, in December 2022, the listing location of ZEEKR was changed from Hong Kong to the United States. Geely Auto said that ZEEKR submitted a draft registration statement for a possible IPO to the SEC on a confidential basis.
Although Geely did not explain the reason for the change of listing destination, according to media reports at the time, the search for a higher valuation may be the main reason.
In this way, after waiting for more than half a year, there was further progress in the IPO dynamics of ZEEKR.
In August 2023, the website of the China Securities Regulatory Commission disclosed the filing notice on the overseas issuance and listing of ZEEKR, which marks that ZEEKR has received the regulatory "green light" for its overseas listing.
At the 2023 Geely Automobile Interim Results Conference, ZEEKR CEO An Conghui said that ZEEKR will continue to closely track the dynamics of the capital market according to market conditions, and study and deploy the timing of the completion of listing.
In November 2023, ZEEKR submitted its listing application to the SEC for the first time. At that time, market sources said that ZEEKR hoped to raise more than $1 billion at a valuation of $18 billion.
But just a month later, ZEEKR once again suspended its IPO plan.
At that time, some media reported that relevant insiders said that the reason for the suspension of the IPO was that the valuation expectations did not match, and the market sentiment was still weak at that time.
In April 2024, it was reported in the market that ZEEKR had restarted its IPO in the U.S. stock market, planning to raise up to $500 million, half of the amount raised half a year ago.
In this IPO, ZEEKR issued 21 million ADSs in the U.S. stock IPO at a price of $21 per share, raising $441 million. This amount has shrunk by more than half from the original $1 billion; This is an 11% reduction from the early April version.
From October 2022 to May 2024, in about a year and a half, ZEEKR suspended its IPO twice, and the amount of financing was also reduced, and the road to listing can be described as twists and turns.
Despite this, from its establishment to IPO, "Wei Xiaoli" took 4, 6 and 5 years respectively, while ZEEKR only took more than 3 years, making it the fastest new force in China.
So, why can ZEEKR become the fastest IPO new car-making force?
2. Mobilize the group's resources to support the independent development of ZEEKR
When putting the names of Extreme Krypton, Galaxy, Geometry, Radar, and Ruilan together, some friends may feel a little at a loss and don't know what the connection is between them.
In fact, they are all Geely's new energy brands. For example, Galaxy is Geely's new energy brand for the mainstream household market, Radar is Geely's pure electric pickup brand, and Ruilan is a new battery-swapping travel brand jointly created by Geely and Lifan Technology.
But unlike Galaxy, Radar, and Ruilan, the above brands are all under the Geely brand, while Zeekr is an independent brand.
This difference makes ZEEKR a bit difficult to define.
Unlike typical new forces such as "Wei Xiaoli", ZEEKR is out of traditional car companies. However, unlike the new energy brands of most traditional car companies, ZEEKR has an independent enterprise system and a new brand image.
An Conghui, CEO of ZEEKR, once mentioned: "ZEEKR is different from the traditional car manufacturing and new power model, which is to realize the rapid evolution of intelligent pure electric vehicles and open up the third track of pure electric development. ”
The so-called "third track" is the "traditional car manufacturing + new forces" model. This model allows ZEEKR to have Geely's industrial foundation accumulated for more than 30 years and global superior resources, and share resources and technologies within the group.
As Zeekr said in the prospectus, as a pure electric brand incubated by Geely Group, Zeekr has inherited Geely Group's strong R&D capabilities, innovation and agile engineering capabilities. At the same time, ZEEKR can also leverage Geely's well-established manufacturing capabilities, allowing it to effectively oversee key steps such as procurement, manufacturing, and product quality control with minimal capital expenditure.
From 2021 to 2023, the gross profit margin of ZEEKR auto sales will be 1.8%, 4.7% and 15.0% respectively. In the year of its establishment, it achieved positive gross profit, which is difficult for new forces such as "Wei Xiaoli" to achieve.
It is the resource advantages provided by Geely that make ZEEKR develop faster than the new power brand at many levels.
In March 2021, ZEEKR Automobile was established; On April 15, ZEEKR held a new brand factory press conference; On April 19, ZEEKR participated in the Shanghai Auto Show with an independent booth and opened reservations for new models; In October, ZEEKR began product delivery.
Among the new power brands, taking NIO as an example, NIO was founded in November 2014, and its first car, the NIO ES8, was launched in December 2017 and deliveries began in June 2018.
From the establishment of the brand to delivery, it took NIO 3 years and 8 months, and ZEEKR only took 8 months. From the perspective of time, Extreme Krypton highlights the word "fast".
Why can ZEEKR 001 be so fast?
In 2021, Zheng Yi, a researcher in the automotive industry, said in an article he published, "ZEEKR is a brand established by Geely in a particularly anxious state. ”
Zheng Yi mentioned, "The ZEEKR brand was not ZEEKR at first, ZEEKR 001 is a concept car of Lynk & Co called Lynk & Co Zero, and later became an independent brand. ”
Until March 2024, the spy photos of the Lynk & Co Zero real car were exposed, and some media called it "sedan version of Zeekrypton 001".
On May 7, we media car dynamics said in an article published by the Pacific, "Some media exposed a set of real car pictures of the new Lynk & Co Zero, the internal code is E371, and in the future, it will be based on the same platform as Zeekrypton 001 (SEA vastness), positioned as a family flagship medium and large pure electric car, according to the plan, the new car will be on sale in the middle of the year at the earliest." ”
Originally, ZEEKR was pure electric, and Lynk & Co was hybrid and fuel, and the two brands were clearly distinguished under the Geely system. Now, Lynk & Co is also going to enter the pure electric market of ZEEKR, and the new car launch node is after the IPO of ZEEKR, this delicate relationship is quite interesting.
According to industry insiders, perhaps it is Li Shufu and Geely's determination to make electric vehicles that gives An Conghui and ZEEKR the ability to mobilize high-quality resources within the group and make ZEEKR develop rapidly.
Founded 3 years ago, ZEEKR currently listed models include ZEEKR 001, ZEEKR 009, ZEEKR X, ZEEKR 007, in addition to the ZEEKR 009 glorious four-seater version just released not long ago. As of April 2024, ZEEKR has delivered more than 240,000 vehicles in three years.
In 2024, ZEEKR will also launch three models, including the ZEEKR MIX, which has attracted much attention at the Beijing Auto Show, and the annual sales target will be increased to 230,000 units.
From the perspective of product quantity and delivery, ZEEKR is indeed fast enough.
3. "Not short of money" Zeekrypton is in a hurry to go public
From the perspective of financial indicators, ZEEKR is a serious loss-making car company.
From 2021 to 2023, ZEEKR's net losses will be 4.51 billion yuan, 7.66 billion yuan and 8.26 billion yuan respectively, with a cumulative loss of 20.9 billion yuan in three years.
Although it continues to lose money and the magnitude has expanded year after year, ZEEKR has not continued to carry out multiple rounds of financing like other new power brands.
Before the IPO, ZEEKR only conducted two rounds of financing, with a total of $1.25 billion.
There is no doubt that this is the confidence given by Geely.
For financing, ZEEKR CEO An Conghui once said that money is not the most important thing, Geely has tens of billions of profits a year, and there is no shortage of money, and the reason why it promotes financing is to form a closer relationship with some strategic investors.
ZEEKR's first financing was in August 2021, when it received $500 million in Pre-A round of financing, with investors including Intel, CATL, Bilibili, Hongshang Group and Boyu Investment.
The second round is in February 2023, when ZEEKR announced the completion of a $750 million Series A financing, with investors including Amnon Shashua, founder and CEO of Mobileye, CATL, Yuexiu Industrial Fund, Commerce Fund, and Quzhou Xin'an Intelligent Manufacturing Fund, with a post-investment valuation of $13 billion.
From the perspective of investors participating in the two rounds, Intel represents high-end chips, CATL is power batteries, Mobileye is intelligent driving, and Bilibili represents a new generation of young people.
It can be seen that ZEEKR introduced investors with a clear purpose.
Why is ZEEKR, which is "picky" about investors' background, so obsessed with a quick IPO?
From Geely Automobile's point of view, this is a company that is very good at capital operation.
From the acquisition of Volvo in the early years, to the acquisition of Daimler, and the successive merger of brands such as Proton and Lotus, Geely's capital operation methods have always been praised. Moreover, since 2020, Geely has been expanding its listing footprint.
In 2020, Geely Commercial Vehicle acquired Valin Xingma, which was later renamed Hanma Technology. At the end of 2020, Geely acquired Lifan Motors, China's first listed private car company, and renamed it Lifan Technology.
In October 2021, Volvo was listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange in Sweden.
In June 2022, Polestar, an electric vehicle brand jointly owned by Volvo Cars and Geely Holdings, was listed on the NASDAQ. In December, ECARX, an automotive intelligent technology company founded by Li Shufu and strategically invested by Geely Holdings, was listed on NASDAQ through SPAC.
In February 2024, Lotus Technology will also be listed on the Nasdaq as a SPAC.
With the listing of ZEEKR, Li Shufu has nine listed companies such as Geely Automobile, Qianjiang Motorcycle, and Volvo. Among them, 7 have been added since 2020.
In addition, Cao Cao is applying for listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Judging from a series of operations of the Geely system, it is not difficult to understand the mentality of Zeekr to quickly promote the IPO. But in the past four years, it is a little puzzling why the entire Geely system is so "obsessed" with listing.
Polestar, ECARX, and Lotus, which are listed on the U.S. stock market, have all seen their stock prices fall to a certain extent compared with the early days of listing. So far, Lotus's share price has fallen 40% from when it went public at the beginning of the year.
As the fourth new car-making force listed in the United States, Zeekr, which was just listed on May 10, rose 34.57% on the first day, with a market value of $6.898 billion.
During the same period, Li Auto had a market value of $28.318 billion, NIO had a market value of $10.636 billion, and Xpeng Motors had a market value of $7.303 billion.
At present, the market value of ZEEKR is relatively close to that of Xpeng Motors. Next, will the market value of ZEEKR surpass that of Xpeng, and what do readers think?