Li Auto commits $390 million to Sunwoda EVB, set to become battery unit's No. 2 shareholder

Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI; HKEX: 2015) is putting 2.65 billion yuan ($390 million) into Sunwoda EVB, the power battery arm of supplier Sunwoda, by subscribing to newly issued shares. Priced in line with the unit's earlier Series C and C+ rounds, the deal gives Li Auto a direct 8.79% holding and the seat of second-largest shareholder, while related entities including Leading Ideal HK Limited lift its combined stake to 11.17%. The infusion raises the battery maker's valuation to about 30.14 billion yuan post-money, from 27.49 billion yuan pre-money.

Li Auto has not issued a formal announcement, but it told National Business Daily the move is meant as a lasting partnership rather than a passive financial bet. Under the division of labor described, Li Auto will drive product definition, performance targets, quality standards and core technology development, while Sunwoda EVB supplies the engineering, manufacturing and supply-chain muscle to get those batteries into volume production.

The relationship stretches back to 2022, when a Li Auto unit put 400 million yuan into a Pre-A round for roughly 3.2%, a stake later diluted by successive raises. In 2025 the pair formed a 50-50 joint venture in Shandong with 300 million yuan of registered capital to build batteries designed by Li Auto, which said during its Q2 call that self-developed cells will appear in more models from the second half of 2026. A five-year strategic agreement with CATL signed last September signals the company intends to keep a multi-supplier setup alongside this deeper Sunwoda tie-up.

For Sunwoda, the fresh capital strengthens the unit's balance sheet and cuts its leverage, though the parent flagged that a more dispersed cap table could weaken its grip and even lead to deconsolidation if boardroom control slips. Sunwoda EVB ranked seventh in China with 2.66 GWh of July installations and a 3.59% share, per CABIA data, booked first-half revenue of 15.53 billion yuan against a 324 million yuan net loss, and its proposed ChiNext spin-off from 2023 has shown no material progress since entering IPO counseling.