CHINESE electric vehicle (EV) maker Li Auto Inc., backed by food delivery giant Meituan Dianping, has launched an initial public offering (IPO) of up to US$950 million, in one of the biggest U.S. listings by Chinese companies this year.

The five-year-old automaker, formerly known as CHJ Automotive, is selling 95 million American depositary shares (ADDS) at an indicative range of US$8 to US$10 per share, according to its updated prospectus filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.

Each ADS represents two Class A ordinary shares.

Private equity firm Hillhouse Capital plans to invest US$300 million in the float, the company said in the filing.

The IPO is the latest gauge of U.S. investor demand for Chinese companies going public.

For Li Auto and some others, prestige and listed comparables continue to propel them toward a U.S. listing in spite of escalating Sino-U.S. geopolitical tension and negative sentiment toward Chinese firms following fallout from Luckin Coffee.

Li Auto’s rival, Xpeng, plans to go public in New York later this year, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.

At US$950 million, Li Auto’s IPO would surpass the US$510 float by cloud service provider Kingsoft Cloud, which has been the biggest U.S. listing by a Chinese firm this year. (SD-Agencies)