(Yicai Global) May 13 -- Shares in China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group plunged as much as 15 percent today after the country’s most valuable electric car maker said its parent company had divested 2.66 percent equity at a substantial discount.

Evergrande NEV’s stock price [HKG:0708] was trading down 9.48 percent at HKD46.25 (USD6) at 2 p.m. China time today. Earlier in the day it had fallen to HKD43.60.

Evergrande Group sold 260 million shares in its unit at a price of HKD40.92 per share, 20 percent less than the closing price of HKD51.15 (USD6.60) yesterday, for HKD10.6 billion (USD1.4 billion), the Shenzhen-based real estate giant said yesterday.

The paring of its stake was necessary to start reducing the shareholding ratio of Evergrande NEV’s top 20 shareholders to below 90 percent, a condition needed in order for the carmaker to trade on the stock connect programs with the mainland, it said. Evergrande Group held 67.64 percent equity in the subsidiary before yesterday’s sale.

Despite not having produced a single car for the market yet, Evergrande NEV is worth HKD450 billion (USD58 billion), more than the USD55 billion of compatriot US-listed Nio.

The company posted CNY7.7 billion (USD1.2 billion) in losses last year, a widening of 50 percent from the year before, according to its 2020 earnings report. CNY5.2 billion of this was from its auto business.

In 2020, Evergrande NEV, which used to be a dedicated healthcare facilities provider until the transition to NEVs began in 2019, earned revenue of CNY15.5 billion (USD2.4 billion), only 1 percent of which came from the car business and the rest from its existing healthcare services.

Editor: Kim Taylor