WM Motor replaces majority shareholder, but not for IPO purpose

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- WM Motor, a Chinese electric carmaker, recently got its majority shareholder changed from WM Smart Mobility Technology (Shanghai) Co.,Ltd to a Suzhou-based company who has currently wholly owned the startup, according to a record posted on TianYanCha, a Chinese company information search platform.

The significant equity holder transformation triggered the industry’s speculation, which said that this move was part of the car maker's preparation to go public because a smaller city can offer more convenient listing conditions.

However, the EV manufacturer afterwards denied the rumor. According to a local media outlet who got the reply from a source in the startup's public relations unit, WM Motor has no plan for IPO yet.

The responsible person said changing the equity holder is a strategic adjustment for the purpose of speeding up the company's development until its ultimate goal is achieved. Besides, this is also a significant measure to expand WM Motor's business deployment in China's Yangtze River Delta.

The new shareholder, dubbed Suzhou WM Smart Mobility Technology Co.,Ltd, was registered on August 30, 2019 and is wholly owned by WM Motor's former majority stake holder, namely, WM Smart Mobility Technology (Shanghai) Co.,Ltd, according to TianYanCha. Its business scope extends to cover the R&D and transfer of smart mobility and NEV-related technologies and the sale of automobile components.

For the first seven months of 2019, consumers purchased the mandatory liability insurance for traffic accidents of motor vehicles (MLI) for a total of 9,149 WM EX5s, making the startup ranked third among Chinese startups by Jan.-Jul. insurance volume, while still far less than its 100,000-unit annual sales goal. 

On March 8, 2019, WM Motor announced a completion of a series C round financing that raised a total of RMB3 billion, which was led by Baidu and involved other investors such as Linear Venture and Taihang Industrial Fund. From the time being, the startup has cumulated nearly RMB23 billion in all rounds of fundraising (photo source: WM Motor).