Chinese car rental service Car Inc., formerly known as China Auto Rental Inc. has resumed its IPO plans that were suspended in 2012, but it now aims to go public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange rather than the U.S. stock market.
The company has filed with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last week. Charles Lu, chief executive of the firm, once said in an interview he prefers a Hong Kong IPO to New York because local investors are more familiar with his company.
China Auto Rental, or more commonly known as Zuche, offers comprehensive car hire services including, short-term rentals, long-term rentals and leasing.
The company’s revenue mainly comes from car rental business and used car sales. According to the prospectus, the company’s revenue increased at a compound annual growth rate of 81.6% from 819.2 million yuan ($131.15 million) in 2011 to 2.7 billion yuan in 2013. The company’s Q1 revenue for this year reached 788.2 million yuan, up 37.5% as compared with 573.4 million yuan in the same period of last year.
China Auto Rental claimed a customer base of approximately 1.79 million as of March 31, 2014 and a network of 751 directly operated service locations in 69 major Chinese cities. The company added that its fleet size increased from 25,845 vehicles to 55,403 vehicles from December 31 2011 to March 31, 2014.
The prospectus added that 70% of the proceeds raised will be used to purchase new cars, 20% for payment of bank loans and 10% for operation and others.
After shelving the U.S. IPO back in April 2012, China Auto Rental has raised $200 million in 2012 from Warburg Pincus which now holds a 23.1% stake in the business. Hertz bought $100 million worth of shares in the company in the following year.
image credit: China Auto Rental
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