Nio announced changes to its board of directors, with two people appointed by CYVN Holdings joining and one person appointed by Tencent dropping out.
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Nio (NYSE: NIO) announced changes to its board of directors, with the addition of two appointees from Abu Dhabi government fund CYVN Holdings.
The Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker announced today that its board of directors has appointed Eddy Georges Skaf and Nicholas Paul Collins as new directors, effective February 7.
Meanwhile, James Gordon Mitchell, Tencent's senior executive vice president and chief strategy officer, resigned from Nio's board, effective February 7.
Here is Nio's introduction to Skaf and Collins:
Mr. Eddy Georges Skaf has held the position of chief investment officer at CYVN Holdings L.L.C since May 2023. He has also been a director of Foreight Limited and Forseven Limited since June 2023, and a director of CYVN Investments RSC Ltd. since July 2023.
Previously, from August 2019 to May 2023, Mr. Skaf served as a senior advisor to Digital Infrastructure at Mubadala. Before this, he served as the chief strategy officer at Emirates Integrated Telecom Company (du) from August 2017 to May 2019.
Mr. Skaf received his bachelor's degree in computer and communication engineering from American University of Beirut in 1995, and his master's degree of business administration in business administration and management and master's degree of science in management information systems from Boston University in 2000.
Mr. Nicholas Paul Collins has served as the chief executive officer of Forseven Limited since January 2024.
Prior to this role, Mr. Collins worked at Jaguar Land Rover from March 2015 to December 2023 in various capacities, including a director of both Jaguar Land Rover Limited and Jaguar Land Rover Holdings Limited, and an executive director of vehicle programs at Jaguar Land Rover Limited.
Mr. Collins began his career in the automotive industry in 1993 and has extensive experience in global product development, product and business strategy, and vehicle development and launch across Ford Motor Company and Jaguar Land Rover.
Mr. Collins received his master's degree in mechanical engineering from University of Nottingham in 1998, and an MBA from Henley Management College in 2004.
Nio said it welcomes Skaf and Collins to the board and believes their expertise and experience will be a valuable asset to the company's growth.
At the same time, Nio expressed its gratitude for Mitchell's contributions to the company and his service to the board during his tenure.
Nio's statement did not directly mention that Collins came from CYVN, although Forseven, the UK-based electric vehicle startup he leads, is bankrolled by CYVN.
CYVN completed two cumulative $3.3 billion investments in Nio in 2023, making it the largest shareholder in the Chinese EV maker.
Nio announced the first $1.1 billion investment from CYVN on June 20, 2023, which closed in July.
CYVN provided Nio with a $738.5 million strategic equity investment at that time and also acquired $350 million of Nio's class A ordinary shares from an affiliate of Tencent.
On December 18, Nio announced the second $2.2 billion strategic investment from CYVN, which closed in late December.
In total, CYVN beneficially owned about 20.1 percent of Nio's total issued and outstanding shares following the closing of these two transactions.
Although CYVN became Nio's largest shareholder, the EV maker's controller remains its founder, chairman and CEO William Li.
CYVN's shares of Nio are class A ordinary shares with 1:1 voting rights, while Li holds class C shares with 1:8 super voting rights.
CYVN to become Nio's largest shareholder, while William Li to retain most voting rights
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