Volvo Cars Shares Surge 22% After its $2.3 Billion IPO and Debut on the NASDAQ Stockholm

resource from: Reuters   

Swedish automaker Volvo Cars is the latest automaker to go public after the company completed its planned European IPO on Friday. The automaker's shares are listed on the NASDAQ Stockholm. 

The Volvo Cars IPO was the biggest in Europe so far this year. 

The price per share in the offering has been set at SEK 53 ($6.17), which corresponds to a market capitalization for Volvo Cars of SEK 158 billion (US$18.4 billion) for all outstanding shares in the company.

Volvo Cars scaled back its IPO earlier this week, pricing it at the low end of its previously announced range of 53 crowns to 68 crowns per share. 

The shares surged 20% reaching SEK 63 on the first day of trading before settling back near the offer price of SEK 53.

The new issue of 377,358,490 common shares of class B will raise gross proceeds of SEK

20 billion (US$2.3 billion), securing the funding to support Volvo Cars' transformation strategy to become an electric car company.

"The proceeds raised from the IPO together with our strong balance sheet will secure the funding of our fastest transformer strategy and the delivery of our mid-decade ambitions," said Håkan Samuelsson, CEO of Volvo Cars.

Volvo Cars is owned by Chinese automaker Geely. The two companies also jointly operate the dedicated electric brand Polestar which is emerging as a competitor to Tesla in Europe. Volvo Cars holds a 49% stake in Polestar.

In September, Polestar announced separate plans for an IPO.

"I'd like to thank investors in Sweden and around the world, who support our vision for Volvo Cars," said Eric Li, Chairperson of Volvo Cars' and main owner of Geely Holding. "Volvo Cars will continue to devote itself to creating value and providing premium consumer experiences for its customers, which in turn will bring strong returns for Volvo Cars' global investors."

Volvo Cars plans to phase out internal combustion engine vehicles by 2030. With its IPO, the company hopes to take advantage of the strong investor interest in electric vehicle stocks and related companies. 

Volvo Cars' strategy to sell only EVs by the end of the decade might help attract more investor interest, which has resulted in Tesla becoming the world's most valuable automaker with a market cap reaching $1 trillion this week.

Volvo Cars was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden. Over the years, the company has been a leader in safety innovations. Volvo invented the three-point safety belt found on all cars today, as well as side impact airbags.

The Swedish automaker was once owned by the Ford Motor Company. Geely purchased Volvo Cars from Ford in 2010. At the time, its was the largest acquisition of a foreign car maker by a Chinese automaker. Geely's purchase of Volvo was intended to help extend the automaker's reach outside of China.

Since being acquired by Geely, Volvo Cars has gone from selling 373,525 cars in 2010 to more than 770,000 cars in over 100 countries during the twelve month period ending June 30, 2021.

resource from: Reuters

FutureCar Staff