IPOS - Zeekr Steps On IPO Accelerator As Its Prospects Run Low On Fuel | Benzinga
Key Takeaways:
- Zeekr has reportedly restarted its IPO process with reduced fundraising plans, seeking to list before its valuation falls more as prospects worsen for Chinese NEV makers
- The company’s revenue from vehicle sales slowed to 44% year-on-year in the second half of last year from about 150% in the first half
By Doug Young
After putting its U.S. IPO on hold due to weak market sentiment, new energy vehicle (NEV) maker Zeekr Intelligent Technology Holding Ltd. is suddenly stepping on the accelerator in an apparent bid to list before conditions get even worse.
That’s our assessment based on a new Reuters report saying the company has jumpstarted its plan to list in New York, after filing its original application last November. In fact, Zeekr has been filing regular updates to its original prospectus every month since that original filing, including the latest one on March 20.
The latest document provides some new insight to what’s happening at Zeekr these days, including full-year data for all of 2023. The update shows that Zeekr’s sales slowed sharply in the second half of last year in tandem with broader trends in the China NEV market.
As that happens, valuations of Zeekr’s closest peers like Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) and Nio (NYSE: NIO) are also rapidly shrinking as investors fret over their continuing losses and slowing sales growth. Nio recently passed a dubious milestone when its price-to-sales (P/S) ratio officially sank below the 1 mark, with a current reading of 0.97. A P/S of 1 is hardly anything to write home about, but anything below that is quite an embarrassment for a company that considers itself in a hot growth area. Li Auto still trades above 1, now at 1.84, but it could soon fall below that level as well if recent trends continue.
A P/S of 1 for Zeekr, which looks suitable given its similar profile to Nio, would give the company a market value of $7.1 billion, based on its 2023 sales ...