Zeekr launches on the New York stock exchange
Zeekr’s shares have been traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “ZK” since the IPO on 10 May. According to Zeekr, it intends to use the funds raised from the listing to further develop new technologies and products and to expand its sales, marketing and shop network worldwide. The Hangzhou-based company was valued at 6.8 billion dollars, the equivalent of around 6.3 billion euros, when it made its stock market debut. According to Reuters, this was the first major US IPO of a Chinese company since 2021.
The IPO coincides with US President Joe Biden’s announcement that import tariffs on Chinese electric cars will be quadrupled from 25 per cent to 100 per cent this year. According to the White House, the reason for this is that they benefit from “extensive subsidies” and “non-market-compliant practices”. Overcapacity brought about in this way would have led to China’s exports of electric vehicles increasing by 70 per cent between 2022 and 2023 – “jeopardising productive investment in other countries”. The 100 per cent tariff on electric vehicles is intended to “protect American manufacturers from China’s unfair trade practices”.
Shortly before this announcement, Zeekr’s shares rose by almost 35 per cent on Friday above the initial value of USD 21 per share. The current price is 27.63 USD, which is still an increase of 32 per cent. The company issued a total of 21 million shares, raising 441 million dollars in one fell swoop. Andy An, CEO of Zeekr Technology and President of Geely Holding, commented: “Zeekr’s listing on the world’s most active and influential capital market is an important milestone in the company’s global journey. Today, Zeekr becomes a truly global enterprise ready to accelerate its expansion and meet the growing global demands for smart electric mobility.”
Since the beginning of the year, the company has overtaken several competitors with its BEV deliveries in China: Zeekr totalled 49,148 vehicles delivered in the first four months of the year – more than Xpeng (31,214 units) and Nio (45,673), which shortly before ranked ahead of the Geely subsidiary in the statistics. Zeekr was founded in 2021 and is positioned as a premium electric brand in China. The brand has delivered almost 200,000 BEVs since its foundation.
At the end of 2022, it became apparent that Geely wanted to spin off its successful subsidiary and list it on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Geely submitted a corresponding application to the stock exchange in November 2022.
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