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One of China Merchants China Direct Investment’s (the “Fund”, 133 HK) portfolio investments is Pony.ai, a self-driving startup that has deployed robotaxies in China. Pony.ai’s partners include Toyota and Nio.

Pony.ai accounts for 2.2% of the Fund’s total assets (as at March 2024). CSRC, the Chinese securities regulator, has just given it a greenlight to list in the the US.

Interestingly, the Fund values its 0.649% stake in Pony.ai at merely US$ 16.45m (as at March 2024), implying equity valuation of merely US$ 2.5 billion. However, in October 2023, Pony.ai raised capital from Saudi Arabia at post-money valuation of US$ 8.8 billion. We are not sure how the Fund’s accounting policy (or the Saudi deal) works, but we wish Pony.ai every success in its IPO.

小马智行，招商局中国基金（“中国基金”，股票代号：133 HK）的被投企业之一，是一家中国自动驾驶方案技术研发公司。小马智行的合作伙伴包括丰田和蔚来汽车。

截至2024年3月底，小马智行占据基金总资产的2.2%。中国证监会近期批准小马智行在美国上市。

有趣的是，中国基金将其持有的小马智行0.649%股权价值评估为1,645万美元（截至2024年3月），这意味着小马智行的股权估值为约25亿美元。然而，2023年10月，小马智行从沙特阿拉伯获得了新一轮融资，投后估值为88亿美元。我们不确定中国基金的会计政策（或上述融资）是如何运作的，但我们祝愿小马智行在其首次公开募股中取得成功。

Here is Pony.ai at work, which is amazing:

以下是小马智行如何运作的，令人惊叹：

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24 April 2024

Source 来源：Wall Street Journal

China’s securities regulator gave self-driving startup Pony.ai the nod to list in the U.S., in a sign that Beijing’s grip on companies seeking to raise capital overseas may be easing.

Pony.ai plans to issue up to 98.2 million ordinary shares on Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said on its website late Tuesday.

Founded in 2016 in Silicon Valley, and with a main hub in Fremont, Calif., the auto-driving startup has launched robotaxi services in Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. Last August, it said it would team up with Toyota, which has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Pony.ai since 2019, to mass produce robotaxis in China.

The listing approval comes days after the CSRC said it plans to support overseas listings by the country’s tech companies to aid their financing. It said it would also support leading Chinese companies seeking to list in Hong Kong.

That marks a change in tenor from recent years in which several Chinese companies delisted from U.S. stock exchanges amid rising U.S.-China tensions, and as Beijing tightened rules for overseas listings after Luckin Coffee’s financial fraud in 2020 and ride-hailing giant Didi’s push for a New York initial public offering despite cybersecurity risks flagged by domestic regulators.

China’s securities watchdog enacted new rules on overseas IPOs a year ago that require companies to comply with national-security measures and pre-file with domestic authorities before listing abroad. The regulator had processed 122 filings by the end of last month, with 71 companies planning to list in Hong Kong, China’s Commerce Ministry said last week.

China experienced an outflow of foreign investment in equities last year as the world’s second-largest economy grappled with slowing growth, a property-sector downturn and weak consumer sentiment.

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