China's EV 'New Force' Weltmeister Files for HK IPO

Automotive Author: Niko Yang Editor: Yiru Qian Jun 01, 2022 05:33 PM (GMT+8)

The company once recalled 1,282 cars as a defect found in battery production that may cause fires.

Weltmeister

Chinese electric vehicle maker Weltmeister Motor submitted its prospectus to the Hong Kong Exchange for an IPO. Haitong International, China Merchants International and Bank of China International were the joint sponsors of the deal.

The proceeds will mainly be used to develop new models and the platform, expand the sales network, budget for capital expenditure and repay a syndicated loan.

Previously, the company just finished the Pre IPO round of financing worth USD 600 million and has raised CNY 35 billion (USD 5.2 billion) in total by far.

According to the prospectus, Weltmeister delivered 44,152 units in 2021, up 96.3% year on year. It generated CNY 6.34 billion in revenue and an average of -5.15% gross margin for each vehicle during the period.

WM has a lineup consisting of W6, EX5 and E.5. It plans to roll out its flagship sedan M7 in the second half of 2022. It will start to release new products based on the new ''Caesar'' platform in 2023.

As of December 31, 2021, WM has established 621 partner stores in 211 cities in China. The company owns two production bases with a full production capacity of 250,000 vehicles per year.

WM's founder Shen Hui and his wife Wang Lei hold 30.82% of the total shares, Agile Group Owns 6.46% and Baidu Inc possesses 5.96%.

Weltmeister is the latest EV making ''New Force'' that files for IPO, its peers NIO (NIO), XPeng (XPEV) and Li Auto (LI) are listed on bourses in the US, Hong Kong and Singapore, respectively.