BAIC may sell 1.24 mln vehicles in '09, mulls IPO

Shanghai, December 25 (Gasgoo.com) Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Corp (BAIC), which has recently bought Saab technology and equipment from General Motors, expects to sell 1.24 million vehicles this year and is planning IPO, Reuters reported this week.

BAIC said earlier this week that it will invest 33 billion yuan ($4.8 billion) in its own-brand vehicle research and development (R&D) over three years, after paying $200 million for the Saab technology, including the rights to three overall vehicle platforms and two engine technologies.

"Someone has commented that the purchase of Saab's intellectual property can help cut short the development time for Beijing Auto's own-brand passenger vehicles by 4-5 years," BAIC Chairman Xu Heyi told reporters on Wednesday. "We basically agree with the view."

Xu said BAIC may sell 1.24 million vehicles this year, to post net profit of 6 billion yuan on revenue of 116 billion yuan. BAIC aims to sell 100,000 self-developed passenger vehicles in 2011, including sedans and SUVs.

BAIC, which has a 20 billion yuan line of credit from Bank of China, is also making plans for an initial public offering (IPO), Xu said, without giving details such as where the company would list.

Morgan Stanley advised BAIC on the Saab deal, but it was unclear whether the investment bank is also involved in the IPO plan.