Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (‘Freshfields’) has provided Hong Kong law advice to XPeng, Inc (‘XPeng’) in relation to the proposed equity investment by Volkswagen Group (‘VW’) in XPeng. The proposed equity investment will facilitate strategic technical collaboration between XPeng and VW with the goal of leveraging each other’s complementary strengths and forge a long term win-win strategic partnership.

Under the terms of the Share Purchase Agreement, VW conditionally agrees to subscribe for and purchase from XPeng Class A ordinary shares that will represent 4.99 per cent of the XPeng’s total issued and outstanding shares at closing, as enlarged by the subscription shares, for a total consideration of approximately US$700m. The Agreement was entered into on 26 July 2023. XPeng is a leading Chinese Smart electric vehicle (EV) company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets Smart EVs that appeal to the large and growing base of technology-savvy middle-class consumers. Freshfields also advised on the company’s dual-primary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2021, following its listing on the New York Stock Exchange the previous year. The Freshfields team advising on the transaction was led by partner and China Chairman Teresa Ko and partners Calvin Lai and David Yi. They were supported by senior associate Chongming Ma and associate Molina Liu.