(Yicai Global) July 6 -- GAC Aion, the new energy vehicle marque of China's GAC Group, is moving ahead with its planned initial public offering on the Shanghai stock exchange’s Nasdaq-style Star Market, the general manager of the Chinese auto giant said today.

GAC Aion has accelerated its listing on the Star Market, Feng Xingya said at the 2023 China Auto Forum in Shanghai. Feng has made the same comment a number of times in public recently, indicating that the IPO will happen soon. Although there have been murmurs of the firm going public for the past few years, no specific time or bourse were mentioned.

GAC plans for GAC Aion to be one of its main growth drivers. GAC’s electric cars will account for over 60 percent of all its autos by 2030, Feng said. The Guangzhou-based unit has logged strong sales in the past two years. It sold nearly 210,000 units in the first half, more than double than in the same period last year.

GAC Aion performed very well in the primary market last year despite a cool finance market. It bagged the highest amount ever by a Chinese NEV developer in a private placement in October 2022, raising CNY18.3 billion (USD2.5 billion) from 53 institutional investors. 

This boosted the company’s market valuation to CNY103.2 billion (USD13.8 billion) from CNY39 billion based on a previous fundraising round only a few months ago. 

Editor: Kim Taylor