Tencent-backed electric car start-up NIO to file prospectus in September for planned US listing
Counting Chinese technology giants Tencent, Baidu and Xiaomi among its investors, NIO first threw down the gauntlet to Tesla in December with the launch of its first production model, ES8
NIO, the Chinese electric vehicle start-up backed by Tencent Holdings, will file documents in September as it prepares for an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange towards the end of this year or early 2019, the home turf of Tesla, according to Chinese media reports.
The Shanghai-based company is expected to raise US$2 billion at a valuation of US$15 billion, according to a person close to the deal, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private.
The company is said to have hired Credit Suisse, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citibank and Deutsche Bank as underwriters.
The company said it had no comment on the IPO plan.
NIO had earlier submitted initial confidential filings to the US Securities and Exchange Commission and planned to take investor orders in the summer or early autumn, according to a Bloomberg report in May.
Counting Chinese technology giants Tencent, Baidu and Xiaomi among its investors, NIO first threw down the gauntlet to Tesla in December with the launch of its first production model ES8. The high-performance sports utility vehicle has a base price of 448,000 yuan (US$67,788) before subsidies, or about half the price of a Tesla Model X after import duties are added.