(Yicai Global) March 2 -- No bidders came forward in the third auction of some of Zotye Automobile’s equity, even though the Chinese carmaker, which has come through bankruptcy restructuring, knocked 40 percent off the stock’s market value.

The 50 million Zotye shares previously owned by former largest shareholder Tech-New Group, equal to 1 percent of the firm’s total share capital, were put up for sale at CNY132 million (USD19.1 million) on Alibaba Group Holding’s auction platform on Feb. 27. The equity also failed to sell at a previous auction last month and in January. 

The shares were offered at CNY2.64 (38 US cents) apiece, while the Yongkang-based company’s Shenzhen-listed stock [SHE: 000980] fell 2.4 percent today to CNY4.09, the same as the closing price on the day of the auction.

Zotye ran into financial difficulties in the second half of 2019. Tech-New Group filed a petition for bankruptcy and restructuring in September 2020 because of the huge slump in the carmaker’s sales and subsequent deficit. At the end of 2021, Zotye received a capital injection from Jiangsu Shenshang Holding Group, which is now the largest shareholder with a 14.7 percent stake.

Bankrupt Tech-New Group is Zotye’s second-largest shareholder, with 14.4 percent. But more than 80 percent of its shares are pledged.

Zotye announced last October that it would resume car production after an almost three-year gap. The first auto it has made are the T300, the small-sized sport utility vehicle it launched in 2017. Last month, Zotye’s brand Jiangnan also unveiled a mini electric vehicle, the U2, priced at between CNY56,800 and CNY98,800 (USD8,240 and USD14,330) each.

Zotye’s revenue was relatively low last year, it said in an annual earnings update at the end of January. The firm expects its net loss to have widened to between CNY740 million and CNY1 billion (USD107 million and USD145 million) from CNY705.5 million the previous year.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Futura Costaglione