Business

China’s No 2 carmaker Chery seeks US$1.2 billion in Hong Kong IPO

AnyFans 2025-09-18

By Julie Zhang

Chery Automobile, China’s second-largest carmaker by volume, aims to raise as much as HK$9.14 billion (US$1.2 billion) through a Hong Kong stock offering, joining a wave of mainland companies tapping into strong investor sentiment in the electric vehicle (EV) sector.
China’s second-biggest carmaker said it would offer 297.4 million shares priced between HK$27.75 and HK$30.75, with the final offer price to be determined on September 23, according to a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange on Wednesday. The company could issue an additional 44.61 million shares if an overallotment option were fully exercised.
About 10 per cent of the H-share offering would be allocated to the public, with the remainder reserved for the institutional cohort, Chery said. Retail investors can begin subscribing to shares on Wednesday, with the offer closing on Monday. Trading is expected to commence on September 25.
The timing of the initial public offering (IPO) coincides with renewed global investor interest in the Chinese EV supply chain. Shares of EV battery producer Contemporary Amperex Technology have surged 60.4 per cent to HK$491 following the firm’s US$4.6 billion Hong Kong IPO in May – the world’s largest this year. On Tuesday, Hesai Group, the world’s largest supplier of lidar sensors, closed at HK$234 on its debut, beating its offer price by 10 per cent after raising US$531 million.
Chery said that US-China trade tensions and high competition in both domestic and overseas markets could weigh on its financial performance and business expansion. The company ranked second in sales among Chinese domestic car companies in 2023 and 2024.
Sales in emerging markets, including South America, the Middle East, North Africa and Asia excluding China, would experience strong annual growth between 2025 and 2030, Chery said.
Its revenue from overseas markets hit 26.29 billion yuan in the first three months of this year, accounting for 38.5 per cent of the total.
Founded in 1997 in Wuhu, in eastern China’s Anhui province, the company develops, manufactures and sells a range of vehicles, including petrol-powered cars and EVs.

The company said it would allocate 55 per cent of the listing proceeds to research and development, including next-generation vehicles and advanced technology, while 20 per cent would fund overseas market expansion. Upgrading production facilities in Wuhu would absorb 10 per cent of the funds, and 10 per cent would go to working capital and general corporate purposes, it said.
The deal attracted more than 10 cornerstone investors, including state-backed JSC International Investment Fund, which committed HK$1.34 billion, and the Hillhouse Group with US$54.15 million. They have agreed to hold their shares for six months after the listing.
Chery’s revenue in the first three months of 2025 jumped 24.2 per cent from a year earlier to 68.22 billion yuan. It recorded 4.86 billion in adjusted profit during the same period.
The carmaker filed an application for a primary listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange in February, but it lapsed without materialising into a listing. Before that, the company attempted to access an onshore fundraising market in 2004, according to Chinese media reports. In 2008, Chery was converted into a joint stock limited company, the filing said, a restructuring step that enabled it to issue and transfer shares as it scaled up operations, laying the groundwork for fundraising and its expansion ambitions.