Alibaba increases its stake in Xpeng before EV maker's IPO

According to autonews.com Chinese electric-vehicle startup Xpeng Motors is raising more funds from Alibaba Group Holding and other investors ahead of its planned initial public offering in New York, according to people familiar with the matter.

Qatar Investment Authority also is one of the backers putting in another $300 million total in Xpeng, said the people, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. That expands Xpeng’s pre-IPO funding round announced last month to $800 million. The increased funding reflects investor demand, one of the people said.

The Guangzhou carmaker still may add to its haul before the IPO, the people said, as investor interest in EVs increases following gains in shares of Tesla Inc. and the U.S.-listed Nio Inc. this year. Xpeng competes against those two companies and a raft of other startups in China, the world’s largest EV market.

The company has filed confidentially to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to go public as soon as this quarter, the people said.

An Xpeng representative declined to comment. A spokesperson for Alibaba, an early backer of Xpeng, confirmed the technology giant’s participation in the latest round, without providing details. Qatar Investment, a new investor, didn’t respond to requests for comment. The South China Morning Post earlier reported the increase in the funding round.

After years of developing cars and trying to boost their profiles globally, Chinese EV makers are taking steps to go public as the virus pandemic and economic slowdown squeeze the market, boosting competition. Li Auto raised $1.1 billion via a listing on the Nasdaq last week, and Hozon New Energy Automobile Co. said it would list in Shanghai as soon as next year. WM Motor Technology Co. is also weighing an initial stock sale in China as soon as this year, people familiar with the matter have said.

Xpeng delivered 5,185 units of its first vehicle, the G3 crossover, in the first half. It started deliveries of its second model, the P7 sedan, in July, shipping 1,641 units that month.

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Why Plug Power, Bloom Energy, and FuelCell Energy Stocks Are All Moving Higher (Again)

So what

It turns out there is some other news in the alternative energy space that may be helping to fuel these stock price gains, and for that news, we turn to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). On June 29, the Department of Energy announced a new program to invest $100 million over five years "in two new DOE National Laboratory-led consortia to advance hydrogen and fuel cell technologies research and development (R&D)."  

Soon after that announcement came out, DOE announced that it will begin accepting requests for proposals from the industry on an apparently separate but related project to support the department's "H2@Scale" initiative to promote "large-scale, affordable hydrogen production, storage, distribution, and utilization across multiple sectors" -- worth $24 million. As DOE further explained, it will be looking for contractors able to help it with "advancing hydrogen fueling technologies for medium- and heavy-duty fuel cell vehicles," and also with "addressing technical barriers to hydrogen blending in natural gas."  

Now what

The $124 million up for grabs from these two DOE programs may not sound like a lot of money. But $124 million is nearly twice FuelCell's annual revenue ($69 million), about half of what Plug brings in in a year ($250 million), and even a pretty good chunk of Bloom Energy's annual sales ($795 million). In short, it's a prize worth winning for any of these three companies.

Proposals from would-be contractors on the $24 million contract, at least, are due by close of business on July 31. It's possible we could see above-average stock strength among fuel cell companies all the way up to when a winner is announced.

credit:Themotleyfool

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