Electric-vehicle maker Xpeng Inc. soared on its first day of trading Thursday, after saying it would raise $1.5 billion through an initial public offering in the U.S., more than the company had initially planned.
The shares traded on the NYSE under the symbol XPEV ended 42% higher at $21.22.
The Guangzhou, China, company said it would sell 99.7 million American depositary shares at $15 each, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Last week, XPeng said that it planned to raise up to $1.11 billion in an IPO by selling 85 million ADSs at $11 to $13 each.
Xpeng joins the more than 20 Chinese technology companies tapping the U.S. market this year by listing on the Nasdaq Stock Market or the NYSE and raising a total of more than $6 billion, Bloomberg reported, citing Dealogic data.
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Over the past three years the number of Chinese electric-vehicle manufacturers has tripled, with more than 400 registered nationwide, according to the BBC.
Tesla (TSLA) – Get Report had been leading sales in China, but registrations of locally made Tesla vehicles fell in July from the previous month.
In July, 11,456 China-built Teslas were registered in the country, according to China Automotive Information Net, down 24% from June.
Meanwhile, Chinese electric-vehicle maker Nio (NIO) – Get Report was upgraded this week by analysts from UBS and Morgan Stanley.
The company recently secured nearly $1 billion in funding from several state-owned companies in the eastern city of Hefei.
And Morgan Stanley analyst Tim Hsiao said in a note to clients that this “not only removes funding risk but also advances Nio’s vehicle profitability and cash flow.”
Xpeng was founded in 2014 in southern China’s manufacturing hub Guangzhou.
It makes a four-door sports sedan and an electric sport-utility vehicle under the Xpeng Motors brand in the Guangdong provincial city of Zhaoqing and with a contract assembler in the Henan provincial capital of Zhengzhou.
For the first half of 2020, Xpeng posted a loss of $112.6 million on revenue of $141.9 million.
