Towards the end of the year, the Middle East sovereign** invested in NIO with a "New Year's gift". Looking back on NIO's financing throughout the year, it is not difficult to find that the investment institution this time is an "old shareholder" from Abu Dhabi, which is the second time it has contributed capital in half a year. Middle East sovereignty** firmly chooses NIO, and such investment behavior has attracted attention in the industry.
On December 18, NIO officially announced that it had signed a new round of share subscription agreement with CYVN Holdings (hereinafter referred to as "CYVN"), an Abu Dhabi investment institution.
Under the agreement, CYVN Holdings, through its subsidiary, CYVN Investments, will make a strategic investment in NIO in cash for a total of approximately US$2.2 billion at a price of 7. per share$5 ** Subscription 29.4 billion newly issued Class A ordinary shares of NIO. After the completion of this investment, NIO and CYVN will continue to carry out strategic and technical cooperation in the international market.
Photo by Zuo Yu. Li Bin is still the actual controller.
In recent years, the Middle East has increased its position in China. Among them, a number of sovereign ** in Abu Dhabi have successively invested in leading companies in various industries such as ByteDance, JD Industry, and SHEIN. As a professional investment institution with a majority stake in Abu Dhabi**, CYVN has strong investment strength and is known for its "sharp" investment vision in the industry.
There may be many companies that have been invested because of their leading position in the industry, but there are not many Chinese companies like NIO that have become targets in a short period of time. It is not difficult to see that CYVN is quite favored by NIO, which also reflects NIO's unique value and strategic leading position in the global smart electric vehicle industry. In the future, this investment will help NIO improve its cash reserves and develop its international business.
Li Bin, Founder, Chairman and CEO of NIO, said: "We are deeply encouraged by CYVN's vision to accelerate the global transition to a more sustainable future, and we are grateful to CYVN for recognizing NIO's unique value. With the strengthening of its balance sheet, NIO is well positioned to respond to the increasingly fierce competitive landscape, strengthening its brand positioning, enhancing its sales and service capabilities, and investing in core technologies for a long time, while continuously improving its execution efficiency and systematization capabilities. We firmly believe that NIO will further consolidate its leading position in the transformation of the global automotive industry." ”
Jassem Al Zaabi, Chairman and Managing Director of CYVN, said: "The increased strategic investment in NIO is in line with our strategy to build a world-leading portfolio in the mobility sector. This investment demonstrates our confidence in NIO's unique positioning and competitiveness in the global smart electric vehicle industry." We are pleased to be a long-term strategic partner of NIO and support its unremitting efforts in product innovation, technological breakthroughs and international market expansion." ”
Upon completion of the transaction, CYVN will hold approximately 201%, becoming the majority shareholder of NIO, but CYVN does not seek super voting rights, and its voting rights are around 13%;Because Li Bin has super voting rights, the actual voting rights are about 39%, so Li Bin is still the shareholder with the single largest voting rights and has control over the company. This arrangement fully demonstrates CYVN's recognition and trust in the management capabilities of the founding team such as NIO and Li Bin.
Under strong competition, it was invested against the trend.
Since the beginning of this year, the competition in China's new energy vehicle market has been particularly fierce, and even in the case of the "price reduction tide" almost throughout the year, some weaker car companies have no choice but to withdraw from the market, and the competition in the industry has never stopped.
As we all know, the car-making project is very "money-burning", and the new energy vehicle industry has serious involution this year, and many Chinese and foreign car companies, including traditional luxury car companies, have to pay out of their own pockets in exchange for market sales.
At the same time, the number of companies that have received financing in the U.S. equity market this year is very small, and NIO has received nearly US$3 billion in financing, far aheadThe second-largest company received only about $500 million. In such a "downturn" environment, NIO, which does not fight a war and maintains a basic stability of the system, has received two consecutive CYVN investments in just half a year, with a cumulative investment amount of nearly US$3 billion. "Contrarian investment" confirms that NIO has a different "charm" in the eyes of Middle Eastern consortiums.
The previous investment of the Middle East consortium was mainly concentrated in the North American market, and it was the leading overseas fuel vehicle technology at that time, and with its accurate grasp of the market and long-term holding, the Middle East consortium obtained rich returns.
As China's new energy vehicle technology and product quality gradually emerge, Middle Eastern consortiums have turned their attention to China and began to look for potential new energy vehicle companies.
It is also understood that NIO also successfully issued a total of 11With US$500 million in convertible senior bonds, international strategic investors have made a total of 44 percent of NIO in 2023The investment of US$500 million (about 31.7 billion yuan) once again proves that NIO has long-term strategic investment value and strategic leading position in the global smart electric vehicle market.
At present, NIO's operating conditions have been comprehensively improved. According to the third quarterly report, NIO's revenue and delivery volume in the quarter reached a record high, and a number of core indicators reflecting the company's operating conditions, including gross profit margin, have improved in an all-round way. Among them, NIO achieved revenue of 190 in the third quarter700 million yuan, an increase of 117 percent month-on-month4%, a year-on-year increase of 466% with 5 deliveries540,000 units, up 135 month-on-month7%, a year-on-year increase of 754%；The gross profit margin of the whole vehicle returned to double digits to 110%, maintaining a leading position in the field of pure electric vehicles;The loss narrowed sharply, and the net loss fell by 24% from the previous quarter8%；Cash reserves rose to $45.2 billion, an increase of $13.7 billion from the previous quarter.
Outstanding performance in technology R&D investment and achievements is the focus of CYVN. In the third quarter, NIO's R&D investment reached 30400 million yuan, which has exceeded 3 billion yuan for four consecutive quarters. According to statistics, since 2016, NIO has invested nearly 40 billion yuan in R&D, making it the company with the largest R&D investment among new forces, and has obtained a total of 7,700 global pending and authorized patents.
The investment helps NIO prepare for the war.
While "looking for money", Li Bin personally went out to do business, and it was necessary to make his excellent R&D capabilities public.
Just one day before the investment was announced, Li Bin drove the ET7 from Shanghai at 6:30 in the morning and started a 14-hour self-driving live broadcast, in order to show the real performance of the 150-degree ultra-long battery pack to the outside world, and the final mileage was fixed at 1044 kilometers, achieving an excellent result of more than 1000 kilometers on a battery. It is reported that at this time, the remaining battery is 3%, and it is expected to still be able to travel more than 30 kilometers.
The 150-degree battery pack tested this time is the world's first CTP battery pack without thermal runaway, with an energy density of up to 360Wh kg and 260Wh kg, both of which are the highest in the world. NIO's 150-degree ultra-long-life battery pack is expected to be launched in 2024, allowing NIO users to easily enjoy a long-lasting travel experience without having to bear the cost of purchasing a large battery.
NIO's outstanding capabilities will be even more "dazzling" with the addition of CYVN investment. It is reported that NIO has recently completed a comprehensive plan for the company's medium and long-term operation plan, and in the future, the company will continue to focus on promoting core technologies, developing key products, and enhancing sales and service capabilities.
At this year's "NIO in 2023 NIO Innovation and Technology Day", NIO introduced for the first time in detail the "NIO Technology Full Stack" covering the panorama of the smart electric vehicle business, which includes 12 key technology areas, including chips and on-board intelligent hardware, battery systems, electric drive and high-voltage systems, vehicle engineering, vehicle global operating systems, panoramic interconnection, intelligent driving, intelligent cockpit, smart energy, intelligent manufacturing, artificial intelligence, and global digital operations. Community, multi-brand, multi-platform, multi-regional, three dimensions, nine elements of R&D and operation needs.
In addition, Li Bin also recently revealed some news about the second brand model. He said that the first car recently completed the trial production of the VB car, "the condition is very good, and NIO is very confident in this car."
At NIO Day 2023 on December 23, NIO's executive flagship ET9 will be unveiled. It is reported that this model is the crystallization of NIO's technological innovation, and will become the technical benchmark of global smart electric vehicles, leading the development trend of smart electric vehicle technology.
All of the above R&D will require a large amount of financial support, and the large amount of cash reserves brought about by this investment will provide NIO with more sufficient resources to achieve the above plan, so that it can continue to maintain its advantage in the next technology war. Especially in this era of high competition, one step ahead of the strength means having a greater initiative in the overall situation.