Evergrande to buy up the rest of NEVS

The Chinese Evergrande Group has announced its intention to take over National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) entirely. The acquisition of the remaining shares is to be completed by autumn.

Evergrande had acquired a 51 per cent stake in NEVS in January 2019 and had increased their stake to 82.4 percent in November 2019. Now Evergrande also wants to take over the remaining 17.6 per cent of NEVS. The purchase price of the equivalent of 336 million euros will be paid in four instalments, the last of which is to be paid on or before 30 September 2020. Evergrande takes over the shares from National Modern Energy Holding, which was the main owner of NEVS until Evergrande’s entry in 2019.

At this purchase price, NEVS would be valued at around EUR 1,95 billion. But NEVS does not yet have a profitable business model. Last year, with a turnover of just ten million euros, many reported net losses of 300 million euros. But that is hardly surprising since NEVS and Evergrande currently are only making one electric vehicle, the Saab 9-3 successor as reported.

Also, a new E-SUV is expected to be presented in the coming weeks. Originally it was said that the Hengchi 1 would be “introduced in the first half of 2020” – there were still a few days left for this. But the Hengchi 1 should not stay alone for long: Hui Ka Yan, CEO of Evergrande Group, announced last November fifteen models to cover all classes and vehicle types.

The complete takeover gives Evergrande full control over the facilities in Trollhättan. The former Saab plant, today the only Evergrande plant outside China, houses production facilities and NEVS’ development laboratories. A further NEVS plant is to be built in Shanghai.

As the usually well-informed Saabblog at NEVS writes, the announcement of the complete takeover is not surprising. In recent weeks there have been changes in the shareholder structure of NEVS Shanghai. Also, personnel changes could be observed in Trollhättan.

Whether the complete takeover of NEVS will affect the deal with Sono Motors is unknown. The Swedish company is expected to manufacture the Sion for the Munich-based company from the end of 2021.

With reporting by Nora Manthey, London.

chinabankingnews.com, saabblog.net (in German), saabplanet.com, caixinglobal.com, hkexnews.hk (PI as PDF)