Asian Tech Press (Oct 19) -- Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd (0175.HK) announced on Tuesday that it plans to acquire 10% shares of EV brand Zeekr from its parent company Geely.

The Chinese automaker announced that the company entered into a framework agreement with Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd, known as Geely, to acquire 220 million shares of Zeekr Company Limited from the later, representing approximately 10% of the issued shares of Zeekr as at the date of the framework agreement, for a consideration to be agreed between the company and Geely.

Public information shows that Zeekr was formally established on March 23 this year, positioned as an electric mobility technology and solutions company under Geely. And it is jointly invested by Geely Auto and its parent company Geely, registered in the British Cayman Islands, with Li Shufu as Chairman and An Conghui as CEO.

On Aug. 27, Zeekr announced a $500 million Pre-A round of financing led by Intel Capital, with other four co-partners including Chinese battery maker CATL, Bilibili Inc (BILI:NASDAQ), Cathay Fortune Group and Boyu Capital. And the five companies account for about 5.6% of the EV company's shares after the investment.

Currently, the first model of Zeekr, the ZEEKR 001, a rival to Tesla Model 3, is available on the market, and all orders for 2021 deliverables have been sold out. And the model, which formally rolled off the production line in Zeekr's Ningbo factory today, will open for delivery on October 23.

It is planned that in the next three years, Zeekr will launch six new models. And by 2025, sales are expected to reach 650,000 units and the company wants to be among the top three in the world in terms of market share of high-end electric vehicles.