(Bloomberg) -- WeRide Inc. American depositary shares surged 21% from their initial public offering price after the Chinese self-driving automotive company raised $440.5 million in a first-time share sale and private placement.
The Guangzhou-based company’s ADS climbed to $18.80 each as of 11:51 a.m. in New York, above the IPO price of $15.50 apiece. WeRide’s twice-delayed IPO was priced at the bottom of its marketed range and upsized by 20% to raise $120 million.
The trading gives WeRide a market value of about $5.2 billion, based on the number of shares outstanding.
The company sold 7.7 million ADS in the offering. Auto parts maker Robert Bosch GmbH agreed to subscribe to 6.5 million of the ADS, accounting for about 83% of the deal, according to WeRide’s filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Each ADS represents three ordinary shares.
A group of investors also agreed to buy $320.5 million worth of ordinary shares via private placements. Alliance Ventures, the venture capital fund of the Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Alliance and an existing WeRide backer, agreed to purchase $97 million worth of shares, according to WeRide’s filings.
The debut caps WeRide’s lengthy road to a public listing in the US. The company had paused its listing plan in mid-August for a week to make room for a new investor, Bloomberg News reported. It was further delayed in order to complete documentation for US securities regulators, people familiar with the matter said at the time. The approval by the Chinese securities regulator for a US listing was renewed earlier this month.
The IPO and placements are a rare sizable listing by a Chinese company in the US since ride-share company Didi Global Inc.’s disastrous 2021 offering. The largest IPO this year by a Chinese company debuting in the US is Zeekr Intelligent Technology Holding Ltd.’s $441 million first-time share sale in May.
WeRide, which began operating in 2017, develops autonomous driving technology and is testing or deploying it commercially in 30 cities in seven countries, according to the filings. Its robotaxi fleet uses vehicles purchased from Nissan Motor Co., the filings show.
The IPO comes as the Biden administration is proposing a rule to block the import and sale of Chinese- and Russian-made hardware and software for connected vehicles. The ban would impact vehicles that can communicate externally through Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular or satellite systems, a feature that’s increasingly commonplace. Officials said these systems are at risk for foreign interference, which could lead to disruption and sabotage.
WeRide would be able to discontinue road testing in the US before such a rule was implemented, its filings show.
The company’s offering was led by Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and China International Capital Corp. WeRide’s ADS trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol WRD.
--With assistance from Julia Fioretti, Dave Sebastian and Bailey Lipschultz.
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