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China’s fundraising boom for electric cars looks set to continue through the Year of the Ox as the capital-intensive industry ploughs billions of dollars into new models, marketing and infrastructure across the world’s largest car market.
The single largest investment by the auto industry in a century is well under way, as electric vehicle – known as new-energy vehicles (NEV) in China – start-ups ramp up production, while traditional carmakers such as Geely and Great Wall Motors switch to making EVs from petroleum-fuelled internal combustion engines.
The fundraising boom via special purpose vehicles, better known as SPACs, for new entrants is gathering momentum, said stock analysts. Lucid Motors is nearing a deal to go public via a SPAC, according to Bloomberg. Some incumbent players are attempting their own capital raises or monetisation efforts by ring-fencing or spinning out EV assets.
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Investors tend to see the new EV companies as having a greater growth potential but think the incumbents can lean on already meaningful earnings.
The fortunes of the founders and senior management of carmakers listing in Shanghai rest on investors’ continuing love of NEV stocks as they cannot sell their shares during a lock-up period on the Star Market for several years. The 500-per cent surge in Tesla’s share price has propelled chief executive Elon Musk to become the world’s wealthiest man last month, beating fellow centibillionaire Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com. Here are some of the biggest upcoming fundraising drives and new entrants to watch in the industry in the coming months:
