Chongqing steht kurz davor, einen IPO im Wert von 260 Milliarden Yuan zu starten.
Another Chinese stock company has applied for an IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
On September 25, Seres Group (hereinafter also referred to as "Seres") issued an announcement stating that the applications for the issuance of foreign capital stocks (H - shares) and the listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange had been approved by the Chinese securities regulatory authority. According to the approval, Seres plans to issue up to 331 million foreign capital stocks.
This news immediately triggered a positive reaction in the market. On September 26, Seres' stock reached a high of 163.52 yuan per share and closed the trading day at 157.22 yuan per share. The market capitalization was about 260 billion yuan.
Seres' goal of listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is clear: as the group previously said, it wants to "deepen its global strategy, build an international capital management platform and improve its competitiveness". According to the announcement, the proceeds from the Hong Kong IPO will mainly be used for research and development activities, the development of new sales channels, overseas sales and the charging network to increase the group's global brand awareness. The rest will be used for ongoing operating expenses and general corporate purposes.
It is worth noting that Seres' IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange also conforms to the trend that many leading companies will be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2025. The decision to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at this time is based on the one hand on the improvement of the company's performance and on the other hand on the fact that the electric vehicle market is currently very popular.
Interestingly, on the same day that Seres received the approval from the Chinese securities regulatory authority, the traditional automobile company Chery Automobile with a market capitalization of about HK$200 billion completed its IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and won the title of the "largest automobile IPO of the year" with an issuance amount of HK$9.145 billion. It is possible that this record will be surpassed soon.
A "Veteran" of Entrepreneurship Launches Another IPO
The name Seres is not unknown to consumers and is often associated with "Huawei". However, as a traditional automobile company from Chongqing, the story of Seres begins with Zhang Xinghai, the quiet boss behind the group.
Zhang Xinghai was born in 1963, and his childhood was marked by the noise of machines along the Jialing River. In 1986, the 23 - year - old Zhang founded the Phoenix Electric Spring Factory in his hometown of Fenghuang with 8,000 yuan he had scraped together. The factory produced springs for electrical appliances and seat cushion springs for small cars. Although springs are small components, they are indispensable for household appliances such as refrigerators, televisions and washing machines. Previously, most springs in China were imported from Japan, expensive and easily damaged. The Phoenix Electric Spring Factory solved the technical problems in less than a year and produced cheap and high - quality replacement springs, reducing the price from US$1 to less than 1 yuan and quickly capturing 90% of the Chinese market.
However, Zhang Xinghai had a broader vision and soon focused his attention on shock absorbers for automobiles and motorcycles. His shock absorbers were not only accepted in the Chinese market but also successfully sold overseas.
However, Zhang Xinghai was not satisfied with just being a "background actor". In 2003, he took advantage of the opportunity that the Dongfeng Group changed its joint - venture partner and founded Dongfeng Yu'an Vehicle Co., Ltd. (later renamed Chongqing Xiaokang Automobile Group Co., Ltd.) together with Dongfeng Motor Corporation and Dongfeng Industrial Co., Ltd. In May 2005, the first Dongfeng Xiaokang minibus was launched on the market. Thanks to its low cost and durability, the Dongfeng Xiaokang minibus once ranked third in the Chinese small - car market and remained among the top three in the sector for 10 years.
The real challenges came after 2010. With the overcapacity in the Chinese automobile industry and the slowdown of the growth of the gasoline - car market, Zhang Xinghai recognized the trend towards electric vehicles early. In 2016, Zhang decided to focus on electric vehicles and led the company into its third transformation. In June of the same year, Xiaokang Co., Ltd., a company mainly engaged in the research, development, production and sales of motor vehicles and their components, was listed on the Chinese stock exchange.
Looking back, 2016 was also a turning point in the history of Seres.
In this year, Seres began to systematically research the development of intelligent electric vehicles at a high level. "We have recognized that a new technological revolution will completely reshape the automobile industry, that software defines automobiles and that the integration of intelligence and electromobility is inevitable. The boundaries between industries are increasingly blurred. We are even more aware of the need for transformation." Zhang Xinghai said. In particular, in 2021, Seres and Huawei laid the foundation for cross - border cooperation between the automobile industry and the ICT industry. Both companies leveraged their strengths and pursued the concept of "new luxury cars", where "intelligence redefines luxury".
The cooperation between Seres and Huawei is not a traditional supplier relationship but an overall synergy that ranges from research and development to production, sales and customer service. At the end of 2021, the joint brand AITO was officially launched. The AITO vehicles were then successively introduced, and it only took 15 months for the 100,000th vehicle to roll off the production line - a record for this period.
In 2022, Xiaokang Co., Ltd. changed its company name to "Seres Group Co., Ltd." and the stock exchange name changed from "Xiaokang Co., Ltd." to "Seres". This marked the full focus on electric vehicles.
At the end of March this year, Seres released its annual report for 2024, in which many data such as sales and profit reached record levels. The sales increased by more than three times compared with the previous year, and the company achieved a net profit of 59.46 billion yuan, which represents a profit after several years of losses. Seres is thus the fourth electric vehicle company in the world to make a profit.
2025 is another successful year for Seres. The data shows that the sales in the first half of 2025 were 624.02 billion yuan, and the net profit for shareholders was 29.41 billion yuan, which represents an increase of 81.03% compared with the previous year.
After 39 years in business, the company led by Zhang Xinghai has fundamentally changed its business operations three times and also changed its company name and logo three times - from Yu'an Innovation to Xiaokang Industrial, which focused on automobile production, to Seres, which now focuses on intelligent electric vehicles. Each transformation was a sign of the times.
From the precise manufacturing of a single spring to the creation of a new standard for intelligent luxury electric vehicles, this "veteran" of the manufacturing industry has completed an impressive journey from the backstage to the front stage in nearly forty years.
With the approval from the Chinese securities regulatory authority for the IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, this manufacturing veteran is on the verge of knocking on the doors of the capital market again and starting a new phase on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
A Super - Company with a Market Capitalization of 260 Billion Yuan from the "Chinese Detroit"
The Yangtze River and the Jialing River converge at Chaotianmen and shape the industry of this south - western metropolis. When the outside world is surprised that Seres with a market capitalization of 260 billion yuan has risen to the first league of global electric vehicle companies, few know that the company founded by a spring factory is closely related to the automobile industry of Chongqing, the "Chinese Detroit".
The history of automobile production in Chongqing dates back to the 1950s. The Chang'an Machine Factory, which was founded in Songjiang, Shanghai in 1862 and was relocated to Chongqing during World War II, built the first Changjiang 46 Jeep in May 1958. With the "Third Line" initiative in the 1960s, Chongqing became the main production base for military vehicles. The predecessor of the Sichuan Automobile Factory began to build a production site for heavy military vehicles in Shuangqiao, Chongqing. However, before the reform and opening - up policy, the automobile industry in Chongqing had the problem of "few light and small cars and no sedans", and the technological capabilities were far behind the world standards.
The turning point came in the 1980s. The Chang'an Factory got inspiration from the China Import and Export Fair and introduced Japanese Suzuki technology and produced the first Chang'an small trucks in November 1984. At the same time, the Chongqing Automobile Factory founded a joint - venture with the Japanese company Isuzu and founded Qingling Motors, while the Sichuan Automobile Factory introduced the technology of MAN and Steyr and produced heavy trucks. During this period, Chongqing made significant progress in the fields of small, light and heavy trucks.
The breakthrough in the sedan field came a little later. In 1991, Chang'an cleverly obtained the license for sedan production and assembled the first Alto sedans. The joint - venture Chang'an Suzuki founded in 1993 produced more than 500,000 Alto sedans by 2008, thus fulfilling the wish of many Chinese families to own a car. After Chongqing was established as an independent municipality in 1997, the automobile industry naturally became a key industry. In 2001, Chang'an founded a joint - venture with Ford, which further enriched the automobile industry in Chongqing.
In 2013, Chongqing officially applied for the title of "Chinese Detroit". At that time, Chongqing planned to create an automobile industry system with the structure of "1 + 8+1,000", that is, one leading automobile company (Chang'an Automobile), eight automobile brands that were among the top ten in China and had or were building production sites with a capacity of hundreds of thousands of vehicles, and 1,000 suppliers.
Under the leadership of state - owned enterprises, the automobile industry in Chongqing has grown rapidly. By 2015, the production and sales of motor vehicles in the city exceeded 2.6 million vehicles, and Chongqing became the leading manufacturer in China. Chang'an Automobile reached the one - million - vehicle mark with 1.425 million self - branded vehicles, becoming the first Chinese company to achieve this record. In the following three years, Chongqing remained the leading manufacturer in China, and the production even exceeded 3 million vehicles once.
2018 was a turning point for the automobile industry in Chongqing. With the withdrawal of vehicle purchase tax incentives, the sharp decline in the sales of Chang'an Ford, the withdrawal of Suzuki from the Chinese market, and the first decline in the Chinese automobile market in nearly 30 years, the automobile industry in Chongqing was severely hit. The production decreased by 36% compared with the previous year, and Chongqing dropped from the first to the sixth place in China.
By 2019, the automobile production in Chongqing had dropped to less than half of its peak. This series of market changes has posed great challenges to the automobile industry in Chongqing, and transformation is urgently needed.
Fortunately, the electromobility revolution not only brings crises but also a unique opportunity for Chongqing. The automobile industry in Chongqing has seized the opportunity of electromobility and intelligence and tried to "overtake on the curve" through technological innovation and brand re - positioning.
At the beginning of the transformation from traditional automobile production to intelligent electric vehicles, Chongqing faced difficulties in the market, such as a lack of competitive advantage and a decline in sales. But thanks to the strong industrial foundation and the comprehensive supply chain, Chongqing has made great progress in a few years.
The Chongqing municipal government has set the goal of becoming the "capital of intelligent connected electric vehicles" as part of its "33618" system for the modern manufacturing industry. This is based on the insight into the global development trends of the automobile industry and the strong industrial foundation of Chongqing.
The figures show that Chongqing is rapidly developing into the "capital of intelligent connected electric vehicles". In 2024, the production of "Made in Chongqing" notebook computers continued to lead the world. High - quality products in new fields such as smartphones, servers and power semiconductors were mass - produced, and the production of power semiconductors remained among the top three in China. The average selling price of an electric vehicle in Chongqing was over 236,000 yuan, and vehicles over 200,000 yuan accounted for 48.3% of the market. The flagship model AITO M9 of Seres achieved sales of over 151,000 vehicles in 2024 and ranked first in the luxury class over 500,000 yuan, with sales nearly twice as high as those of the second - placed BMW X5.
According to the development plan, Chongqing plans to build a billion - dollar industrial cluster for intelligent connected electric vehicles by 2027. This ambitious goal shows Chongqing's vision in the electric vehicle industry and indicates that Chongqing will play an even more important role in the global automobile industry.
Chongqing Becomes a New Hotspot for Venture Capital
When Seres, as a "symbol of Chinese manufacturing", launches an IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, it is not only about the capital growth of a company but also a vivid example of the "industry + venture capital" model that Chongqing has developed in the past 20 years.
The rise of Seres has never been a solo act. Chongqing has currently built a complete automobile industry cluster, led by the two main companies Chang'an (state - owned) and Seres (private), supported by the production sites of well - known automobile manufacturers such as SAIC, Dongfeng, Geely and Great Wall, and supported by thousands of suppliers such as BYD Battery, CATL and Huayang. The 3 main systems,