By Scott Murdoch
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Chinese electric vehicle maker Li Auto is targetting raising $1.52 billion in its Hong Kong dual primary listing at HK$118 per share, said three sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
The offer, which was flagged to investors, is at a 3.2% discount to the $31.35 closing price of the company’s American Depository Receipts (ADRs) on Thursday in the United States.
Li Auto declined to comment. The sources could not be identified as the information has not yet been made public.
The deal follows that of rival Xpeng Inc, which raised $1.8 billion in its dual primary listing in late June.
Li Auto is selling 100 million shares in the deal which was launched in Hong Kong on Tuesday.
Two of its Hong Kong shares are equal to one New York-listed share.
Li Auto shares fell 4% on Thursday but are up 8.84% so far in 2021.
The company has a so-called greenshoe option to sell a further 15 million shares that could raise an additional $227.5 million that would take the total size of the deal to $1.74 billion.
The EV maker chose a dual primary listing rather than a secondary listing as it has been listed in New York for less than two years.
Under Hong Kong rules, a secondary listing requires at least two financial years of good regulatory compliance on another qualifying exchange.
Li Auto said it delivered 8,589 of its Li ONE SUVs last month, an increase of about 251%.
The shares are due to start trading in Hong Kong on Thursday.
(Reporting by Scott Murdoch, Additional reporting by Yilei Sun in Beijing; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
