The first rumours were already circulating in May, but now Geely has officially announced it: The Chinese car giant is delisting its subsidiary Zeekr, which specialises in electrically powered premium cars, from the New York Stock Exchange around a year after its IPO. Zeekr is currently valued at 6.83 billion dollars, while the parent company already holds 62.8 per cent of the shares.
The two companies have announced in two separate statements what the agreement on the acquisition of the outstanding 37.2 per cent of the company’s shares looks like. Accordingly, the Chinese group plans to pay 2.687 dollars per share. Around two months ago, Geely had already offered 2.2 billion dollars, but the sum has since been increased to 2.4 billion dollars.
This offer corresponds to a premium of 18.9 per cent compared to Zeekr’s last closing price on 6 May. The Chinese premium manufacturer would thus become wholly owned by Geely. The transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2025.
The Geely Group, which owns well-known brands such as Volvo, Polestar and Lotus, as well as half of Smart as part of a joint venture with Mercedes-Benz, is pursuing the goal of consolidating its automotive division with the planned withdrawal of Zeekr from the New York Stock Exchange.
In addition, internal synergies are to be better utilised and costs generally reduced. According to CarNewsChina, analysts see the planned delisting as a strategically smart move: full integration will allow Geely to pool resources in areas such as research, development, production and the supply chain more efficiently and respond more quickly to changes in the market.
Geely is restructuring on a grand scale
Geely had already begun to reorganise its brand portfolio before announcing its withdrawal from the stock market. Volvo Cars, for example, sold its 30 per cent stake in Lynk & Co. to Zeekr within the Group. Geely also sold further shares, making Zeekr the majority shareholder of Lynk & Co. in February 2025 with 51 per cent. Geely continues to hold the remaining 49 per cent itself.
However, Geely is not only pursuing economic goals with Zeekr’s planned withdrawal from the stock exchange. Geopolitical factors are also likely to play a role: The USA has already increased import tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles to 100 per cent under the Biden administration and banned connected vehicles from China.
This has made it practically impossible to import Zeekr models into the USA. Under the current Trump administration, tariffs of 145 per cent even apply to Chinese goods. The growing political pressure on the market there may therefore have played a key role in the decision to withdraw from the US capital market.
Zeekr only successfully went public on the New York Stock Exchange in May 2024, raising 441 million US dollars in the process and being valued at around 6.8 billion dollars. The premium electric brand, which Geely launched in 2021, is specifically positioning itself against domestic competitors such as Tesla, Nio and Xpeng. However, it is also intended to compete with European premium brands and US companies such as Lucid and Tesla.
From the outset, Zeekr focused on innovative technologies such as solid-state batteries, software-defined vehicles and autonomous driving functions. The model portfolio, which includes the Zeekr 001 and the Zeekr 7X, is characterised by modern design, long ranges and a high level of technical sophistication. The plans for expansion in Europe and Southeast Asia are also ambitious, although the withdrawal from the US stock exchange could make access to international capital markets more difficult.
Despite these challenges, Zeekr remains a serious challenger in the premium electric segment. The full integration into the Geely Group should further sharpen the company’s strategic focus. The fact that the political and regulatory challenges associated with a US stock exchange listing will no longer apply should help in this regard. It remains to be seen what effect this step will have on Zeekr’s international expansion and innovative strength.
reuters.com, zgh.com, carnewschina.com
