Asian Tech Press (Oct 26) -- Chinese electric car startup Leapmotor (09863.HK) announced Thursday that Jeep maker Stellantis plans to invest about 1.5 billion euros for a roughly 20% stake in the firm.

That will make Stellantis a significant shareholder in Leapmotor and give it 2 seats on the electric car startup's board of directors.

Leapmotor said in a statement that it has agreed to issue about 194 million Hong Kong-listed shares to Stellantis N.V. at a price of HK$43.8 per share, totaling about HK$8.51 billion.

On the same day, Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co Ltd (002236.SZ) also signed an agreement with Stellantis to transfer 90 million Leapmotor shares, or 7.88%, to the latter for HK$3.4929 billion.

Upon completion of the transaction, Dahua will no longer be a Leapmotor shareholder.

In addition to the share sales, Leapmotor will establish a 49%-51% joint venture with Stellantis called Leapmotor International.

The joint venture will have exclusive rights to conduct export and sales operations to global markets excluding China, as well as exclusive rights to manufacture Leapmotor vehicles in local markets.

Stellantis will appoint a chief executive officer for Leapmotor International, which is expected to begin export operations in the second half of 2024.

Leapmotor disclosed that the joint venture will not launch new brands in the future, and that all it plans to sell will be Leapmotor brand cars.