Geely’s Farizon Auto seeking US$300 million before US IPO, sources say

FARIZON Auto, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group’s new-energy commercial vehicle brand, is considering raising as much as US$300 million in fresh funds ahead of a potential initial public offering (IPO) in the United States, said people familiar with the matter.

The carmaker is seeking a valuation of US$4.5 billion in the new round, up from US$3 billion in its fundraising last year, the people said. They added that the company is studying the possibility of listing in the US as soon as the end of this year, but no final decision has been made.

Considerations are at an early stage and details of the new funding round and IPO could still change, the sources said, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. 

A representative for Geely declined to comment.

Founded in 2016, Farizon manufactures electric commercial vehicles, buses and coaches. In October, the company raised more than US$300 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by a unit of Singapore-based logistics and real estate giant GLP. Other investors included Citic Securities and GLy Capital Management. 

Farizon launched a methanol-fuelled heavy truck in 2019, and two years later debuted a new engine that it said cut average annual fuel costs by 18 per cent, when compared to diesel heavy trucks. Last year, the company launched an electric truck that adopts autonomous driving technologies.

The brand’s cumulative sales in January and February rose 263 per cent on a year-on-year basis, while its alternative energy-powered light duty truck commands 42 per cent of market share in China in its segment, a Mar 14 press release showed.

Geely New Energy Commercial Vehicle Group, the division that houses Farizon, was considering an IPO within the next five years, its chief executive officer Mike Fan told Bloomberg News in 2021.

Geely is on a fundraising blitz as the auto giant pursues ambitious goals for its global automotive empire. Its electric car brand Lotus Technology agreed to merge with a blank-cheque company in a transaction that valued the combined entity at US$5.4 billion.

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Meanwhile, Ecarx Holdings – a smart-car tech startup backed by Geely chairman Eric Li – and Polestar Automative Holding UK both debuted in the US market following two years of special-purpose acquisition company transactions, raising more than US$1 billion in total.

Geely’s premium electric vehicle brand, Zeekr, late last year filed confidentially for a US IPO. BLOOMBERG