Chinese property developer Evergrande Group is currently in talks with several companies, including Nio, Xpeng Motors and Xiaomi, to sell its electric vehicle business, chinastarmarket.cn reported Thursday.
As of now, the results of the talks have not been finalized. However, Xiaomi will still choose to build its own car, and the address will be officially disclosed next week at the earliest, the report said.
Nio, Xpeng and Xiaomi have not yet responded to the information, the report said.
Earlier today, Reuters cited three sources as saying Evergrande was in talks with Xiaomi and a Shenzhen government-backed investment firm seeking to sell a portion of its 65 percent stake in Evergrande Auto.
Evergrande Auto had a market value of about $12.5 billion as of Thursday's close, and a source said the consortium was considering buying a significant minority stake, the Reuters report said.
Evergrande Group, which is burdened with debt, has chosen to save itself with the sale of assets, and its car-making business is one of them.
Earlier today, the People's Bank of China, China's central bank, and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission interviewed Evergrande Group executives, asking it to work to keep its operations stable, actively resolve debt risks and maintain real estate market and financial stability.
Evergrande Auto announced on August 10 that Evergrande Group was approaching several potential independent third-party investors to explore the sale of some of its assets, including but not limited to Evergrande Auto and a portion of Evergrande Property Services.
Evergrande Auto said that as of the date of the announcement, it had not finalized or entered into any specific plans or formal agreements.
This is not the first time Evergrande Group has sold its stake.
In mid-May this year, Evergrande Group sold 260 million Evergrande Auto shares at HK$ 40.92 (US$ 5.26) per share to cash out approximately HK$ 10.6 billion.
As of June 30, Evergrande Auto had a net loss of approximately RMB 4.8 billion ($740 million), compared to a net loss of approximately RMB 2.45 billion for the same period in 2020.
For Evergrande Group, whether it can successfully sell its assets to return cash in the future is very critical to resolve its debt problem.
State-owned companies may take over some of the assets in Evergrande Group's hands in the future through a portfolio acquisition, cls.cn previously cited an industry source.
Evergrande Auto shares, listed in Hong Kong, have slumped 85 percent since the Shanghai auto show on April 19.
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