Geely-NIO Battery Partnership
Geely Acquires 30% Stake in NIO Power to Expand Battery-Swapping Partnership
Anonymous
Geely will acquire a 30% stake in NIO’s battery-swapping and charging unit, NIO Power, in a deal valuing it at about 16 billion yuan ($2.4 billion). Geely will contribute 640 million yuan in cash and transfer its battery-swapping subsidiary, Yiyi; NIO will retain a 63.6% stake, while an existing investor will hold 6.4%. Geely’s stake may be reduced if operational milestones are missed, and it has an option to invest more and raise its ownership to 34%. In a related transaction, NIO will acquire a 10% stake in Geely’s charging business. The companies plan to connect their charging networks and develop shared battery-swapping standards and compatible vehicles; NIO aims to reach 10,000 swap stations by 2030, while Geely plans more than 22,000 charging stations by the end of 2027. Both transactions require regulatory approval.
Key Points
1
In the reciprocal charging-business transaction, Haohan Energy will use the proceeds from NIO’s investment to buy some of NIO’s charging assets. The amount was not disclosed, making the deal, in practice, an exchange of part of NIO’s charging network for an equity stake in Geely’s business.
2
Geely’s Yiyi subsidiary operates commercial-vehicle battery swapping, and its battery-swapping operations are to be consolidated into NIO Power.
3
Based on the deal valuation, Geely’s 30% stake is worth about 4.8 billion yuan; after subtracting its 640 million yuan cash contribution, the implied value of Yiyi is a little over 4.1 billion yuan. The article says the milestone clause helps protect against Yiyi underperforming.
4
The partnership comes as Geely pursues a competing charging approach: it had recently unveiled technology it says can charge a battery from low to nearly full in under five minutes.
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