On December 18th, NIO announced on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it had signed a new round of share subscription agreement with Abu Dhabi investment firm CYVN Holdings (hereinafter referred to as CYVN). CYVN will make an additional $2.2 billion strategic investment in NIO in cash through its subsidiary CYVN Investments, and both parties will continue to engage in strategic and technological cooperation in the international market. After the transaction is completed, CYVN will hold approximately 20.1% of the total issued and outstanding shares of NIO.
Regarding this, Li Bin, founder, chairman, and CEO of NIO, said, "We are deeply inspired by CYVN's vision of accelerating global transformation towards a more sustainable future. We appreciate CYVN's recognition of NIO's unique value. With the strengthening of its balance sheet, NIO is fully prepared to cope with the increasingly fierce competitive landscape, continuously improving execution efficiency and systematic capabilities."
Jassem Al Zaabi, Chairman and Managing Director of CYVN, stated, "Increasing our strategic investment in NIO aligns with our strategy to establish a globally leading investment portfolio in the transportation sector. This investment demonstrates our confidence in NIO's unique positioning and competitiveness in the global intelligent electric vehicle industry, and supports its efforts in product innovation, technological breakthroughs, and international market expansion."
Boosted by this, NIO's stock price rose by about 5% on December 19th.
In July of this year, CYVN completed a strategic investment of approximately $1.1 billion in NIO through targeted issuance of new shares and transfer of old shares, and has just become one of NIO's important shareholders.
Since the beginning of this year, capital from the Middle East has been intensively sweeping away Chinese companies. On December 11th, the Qatar Investment Authority announced a strategic investment of nearly HKD 1.6 billion in Kingdee International; In October, the autonomous driving company Xiaoma Zhixing announced that it had received $100 million in investment from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's New Future City (NEOM) and its investment fund NIF. According to Wind data, as of the end of the third quarter, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority has appeared on the list of the top ten circulating shareholders of 24 A-share listed companies.
In the field of new energy vehicles, there have been many collaborations between the two sides in jointly exploring the market. In October this year, Jihu Automobile, a subsidiary of BAIC Blue Valley, signed a cooperation agreement with the UAE Benomir Group, planning to jointly explore the two major Middle Eastern markets of the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
In June, the Saudi Ministry of Investment signed an agreement with Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer, Chinese Express, worth approximately 40 billion yuan, to establish a joint venture engaged in automotive research and development, manufacturing, and sales.
In March, Geely Automobile announced that Geely Holdings, Renault, Saudi Aramco, and Geely Automobile had signed a letter of intent, and oil company Saudi Aramco planned to acquire a minority stake in the joint venture company through cash investment.
According to incomplete statistics, at least 9 Chinese automotive companies have received investments from Middle Eastern capital in 2023, with a cumulative investment amount exceeding 50 billion yuan.