Amid the news that Chery is going to launch an IPO on the Hong Kong stock market this year, Chery Holding Group Co., Ltd. has recently undergone a new round of equity changes.
Tianyancha information shows that Chery Automobile's parent company Chery Holding Group Co., Ltd. obtained equity financing in early January, with investors including Qingdao Urban Investment Group, IDG Capital and Huoyan Investment.
Some analysts believe that this move is to pave the way for Chery to achieve an IPO this year. In September 2024, Yin Tongyue, chairman of Chery Holdings, said: "I hope to complete the IPO plan before 2025. Entering the capital market will not only help Chery establish a long-term capital replenishment channel, but also help activate Chery's equity incentive mechanism."
Media reports said that Chery Automobile plans to go public in Hong Kong in the second or third quarter of 2025 and raise up to US$1 billion.
In recent years, Chery Automobile has accelerated its sales growth thanks to its "science and engineering man" image. In 2024, its overall sales exceeded 2.6 million vehicles, and it also won the title of Fortune Global 500.
However, Chery's road to listing has been full of twists and turns.
As early as the beginning of 2004, the Anhui Provincial Government had promoted Chery's listing process and carried out shareholding reform. In 2007, Yin Tongyue publicly stated that Chery would launch the listing financing plan as soon as possible. However, the financial crisis broke out in 2008, and Chery Automobile's listing was shelved. In 2009, Chery sold 20% of its equity to Huarong Asset and other companies for 2.9 billion yuan. After introducing these strategic investors, Chery was once considered by the market to restart the IPO, but there was no follow-up.
In the following years, Yin Tongyue said that Chery had some problems with related-party transactions and was not considering going public for the time being.
In 2015, Chery Huiyin, a joint venture under Chery, failed to enter the Hong Kong and A-share markets. In 2016, Chery New Energy attempted to go public through a backdoor listing, but still failed. It then turned to the Science and Technology Innovation Board for listing, but also encountered obstacles.
Faced with obstacles in its listing and a funding gap, Chery initiated mixed ownership reform and listed part of its shares in Chery Holdings and Chery Automobile. In 2019, Qingdao Wudaokou invested 19.6 billion yuan to acquire 51% of Chery Holdings and 35.58% of Chery Automobile, becoming the largest shareholder of the two companies.
Since then, Luxshare Precision and Guoxuan High-tech have both invested in Chery. Until this equity change, Chery's 21-year IPO race has finally hit the finish line this year.
