Nio says won't withdraw from Shanghai, won't exclude other financing

"Nio China's presence in Hefei does not mean that we are moving or evacuating Shanghai. Shanghai is still the global management headquarters." Yuguan Cheshi quoted Nio President Qin Lihong as saying.

Qin Lihong said that Nio and Shanghai still have very good cooperation. Today, they have actively communicated with the Shanghai Municipal Government and Shanghai will not be affected here.

On February 25, the 2020 central signing ceremony of major industrial projects in Hefei was held. Eight key projects involving new energy vehicles, integrated circuits, medical health, industrial Internet, and equipment manufacturing were signed, with a total investment of 102 billion yuan.

However, the most noticeable one is also the one with the most attention, which is undoubtedly the project settled in Nio China headquarters.

Hefei is the hometown of Li Bin, the founder of Nio, and the starting point of Nio.

In the early stage of Nio, with the support of Hefei, Jianghuai Automobile invested 2.5 billion yuan to build a new factory for Nio foundry, which brought Nio to the market while increasing production speed.

However, unlike other new forces that mainly rely on local governments to build cars, the relationship between Nio and the government is not so deep. It's more venture capital based on capital markets.

This time to return to Hefei again, Nio's greater significance lies in giving investors confidence and increasing the bargaining chips for future financing and industrial capital games, that is, to prevent institutional investors who want to invest in Nio from pressing too hard.

Coexistence of global headquarters and Chinese headquarters

"Nio is growing fast, and we have more and more management content and business, and this is not the relationship between them, or moving around," Qin Lihong said.

According to Yuguan Cheshi, NIO and NIO CHINA are two entities. In other words, even if Nio set up a Chinese headquarters in Hefei, Shanghai is still the global headquarters, and the existing structure and business are not affected.

"Nio's China headquarters is located in Hefei. More consideration may be given to the government's commitment to financing support and related industry subsidies and incentives." Industry analysts.

Nio Chairman Li Bin said that this time he signed a framework agreement with Hefei for the establishment of the Nio China headquarters in Hefei. They will plan to develop Nio business centering on Hefei, establish R&D and production bases, and deepen cooperation with local industrial chain companies such as JAC.

Obviously, local governments want taxes and employment rates, so for Hefei, it doesn't matter whether it is the Chinese headquarters or other projects, as long as the investment can bring corresponding returns.

Nio's cash flow difficulties are an open secret of the industry, and it is clear that if Nio's financial difficulties cannot continue, neither the Hefei government nor JAC will be a good thing.

Previously, there were also industrial capitals that were in contact with Nio. For example, GAC, such as Geely, had the idea to help or to copy Nio. However, if Nio cooperates with other car companies, the most injured are Hefei ZF and JAC.

After all, with the 2.5 billion capacity investment, Nio amortizes according to output, so far it can be said that even interest cannot be recovered.

Nio returned to Hefei to invest, which is good for the Hefei government and JAC. At the signing ceremony, the JAC NioEC6 mass production project was launched simultaneously. On the 25th, JAC shares soared 10.8%.

GAC, Geely, etc. can still be potential investors

"The mixed reforms uploaded earlier today, the science and technology board, 14.5 billion are rumors, the rumors have no basis, do not make too much evaluation." Qin Lihong said.

However, he also said that the total investment scale will exceed 10 billion yuan, and it will be said after the signing of a specific agreement. On February 25, Li Bin and the leaders of Hefei signed a framework agreement.

And even if the Hefei government promises to invest, the government's funds still need to come from investors. And Qin Lihong also said: "Other financing is not exclusive. A new company like Nio in the automotive industry with such a large amount of capital must be continuous, and these will not be mutually exclusive."

And investors believe: "From the current situation, Nio is more of a move for financing the capital market."

The signing ceremony with the Hefei government gave investors confidence, but at the same time, the message was: Let the institutional investors who want to invest in Nio not press too hard.

In other words, Nio puts forward a stance. If other investors lower prices too hard and the conditions are too harsh, Nio can also hold the thigh of Anhui Provincial Government through Jianghuai Automobile.

Compared with the government, the conditions of industrial investors are relatively harsh, and the decision-making cycle and execution time will be longer. According to the news previously received by Yuguan Cheshi, if GAC's investment is more based on sentiment, Geely is more inclined to business complementarity and "snap ".

From the perspective of business integration alone, industrial investors also have a stronger desire to control the business.

However, it is clear that from the perspective of the entrepreneur, Li Bin prefers to have the autonomy in his own hands, while the local government will not have the control, but only the industrial scale and local profits and taxes.