China's Xpeng surges 67% on U.S. debut, raises $1.5 billion in IPO

Shares of Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Xpeng jumped as much as 67% after its US market debut on Thursday, as capital markets continue to reward new listings in what has been one of the best years for IPOs since the dotcom boom.

Shares of Xpeng, which counts Chinese e-commerce titan Alibaba and Xiaomi among its backers, opened at $23.10 per American Depositary Share (ADS), up from the raised offer price of $15.00 per ADS.

Earlier on Thursday, Xpeng increased the size of its US initial public offering by more than a third to about $1.5 billion, as global investors race to back companies promoting cleaner technology.

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The IPO, which is the third major listing in New York by Chinese EV companies in the past two years, comes as share prices of EV makers including Tesla and Nio have surged in recent months.

Companies have raised more than $70bn in US IPOs so far in 2020, outpacing the $62.5bn in 2019, on track for the busiest year since 2014 and second-biggest since 2000.

Xpeng’s chief executive He Xiaopeng, 42, who is also known for founding internet browser company UCWeb, said the company will focus on cars priced between 150,000 yuan ($21,804) and 300,000 yuan, a big mass-market segment in China, the world’s biggest auto market.

“In the past three months investors stopped questioning whether future cars will be electric and smart. They think the trend is inevitable,” He said.

Xpeng will use the funds for research and development, and to expand sales, He told Reuters.

The firm invested more than 2bn yuan in technology development last year, with around one-third on intelligent functions such as autonomous driving, He added.

Xpeng has sold over 20,000 electric vehicles, including new P7 sedans and G3 sport utility vehicles. It builds cars in two factories in China. He said a third model would also be a sedan, but declined to comment on the company’s future sales.

The company said in a filing it would price its shares at $15 each, after initially setting a price range of $11 to $13 per ADS when the deal was launched on Friday.

Xpeng had initially targeted raising $1.11bn. Investors now value the company at more than $11bn.

There is also a so-called greenshoe option that would allow Xpeng to raise a further $224.4 million.