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Recently, the Beijing Equity Exchange released an announcement on the equity transfer of GAC Aion New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as GAC Aion). The announcement shows that the main body of this investment promotion is China Cinda Asset Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as China Cinda).

The above announcement also shows that the disclosure period of this announcement is from August 1, 2024 to January 22, 2025. At the same time, the reference price of China Cinda's equity transfer is shown as "negotiable".

In this regard, GAC Aion told the reporter of Daily Economic News: "(China) Cinda is the LP limited partner behind (GAC) Aion shareholder Yingke (Capital), and this is a transfer of LP shares. The original internal estimate of the IPO was two years, but now the time has been postponed. (China Cinda) needs to have an asset disposal process from a procedural perspective."

China Cinda plans to transfer equity in several companies

In fact, the official website of the Beijing Equity Exchange recently disclosed that China Cinda intends to transfer the equity of multiple entities, not just GAC Aion. For example, China Cinda intends to transfer its equity in Tianjin Rural Commercial Bank and Harbin Bank, with shareholding ratios of 0.65% and 0.01% respectively.

It is understood that the deadline for disclosure of these equity transfer announcements is also from August 1, 2024 to January 22, 2025, and the price of the equity transfer will also be determined in the form of "negotiable".

At the same time, China Cinda also disclosed equity transfer information of nearly 60 real industrial enterprises, involving industries such as biology, medicine, and chemicals.

In addition, the above announcement also shows that GAC Aion is preparing for an IPO in Hong Kong, and all preparations for the listing are currently underway as scheduled. GAC Aion told reporters: "The company's situation was written by China Cinda, and the Hong Kong IPO was also written by China Cinda. The content does not need to be reviewed by GAC Aion, and it does not represent the progress of Aion (IPO). The details still depend on the announcement of GAC Group."

“The core of IPO is to solve the system and mechanism problems”

GAC Aion’s listing process has always attracted market attention.

In August 2021, GAC Aion initiated mixed ownership reform and completed asset restructuring, employee shareholding, listing disclosure and other tasks. In early September 2022, GAC Aion New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd. was established and introduced strategic synergy directors. This means that GAC Aion has taken an important step on the road of mixed ownership reform and is also ready for the subsequent introduction of strategic investment and IPO.

Subsequently, in October 2022, GAC Aion publicly listed on the Guangzhou Equity Exchange to increase capital and expand shares, completing the A round of financing. It is understood that GAC Aion introduced 53 strategic investors including upstream and downstream industry companies in this round of A financing, with a total financing amount of 18.294 billion yuan and released 17.72% of the shares.

Tianfeng Securities mentioned in a previous research report that as the last round of financing before the IPO, GAC Aion's Series A financing will set a record for the largest single private equity financing in the domestic new energy vehicle industry, far exceeding the financing scale of previous new car-making forces in the pre-IPO round, making it the largest unicorn among unlisted new energy vehicle companies.

Based on the above post-investment valuation, GAC Aion’s valuation has exceeded the current market value of its parent company GAC Group, as well as Xpeng Motors and Leapmotor.

However, it should be noted that GAC Aion is currently in a period of loss-making performance. According to the above announcement, GAC Aion's total assets in 2022 were 37.199 billion yuan, owner's equity was 10.035 billion yuan, operating income was 38.793 billion yuan, and net profit was -2.062 billion yuan.

"GAC Aion's IPO is different from that of many companies. GAC Aion is not short of money, and the IPO is not for the purpose of raising money. The core is to solve the problems of system and mechanism. To be honest, now is not a good time for IPO. The entire capital market is not good. Aion's (IPO) progress mainly depends on whether the market can recover in the future." At the China Electric Vehicle 100 Forum (2024) in March this year, GAC Aion General Manager Gu Huinan said so.

Daily Economic News