Fangda Partners has advised leading Chinese smart electric vehicle (“Smart EV”) company XPENG Inc. (“XPENG”, NYSE: XPEV and HKEX: 9868-W) on its strategic partnership with a world’s leading mobility technology platform DiDi Global Inc. (“DiDi”), announced on August 28, 2023. The partnership brings together the commercial and technological strengths of both companies and will significantly accelerate the adoption of Smart EV and technologies in the mass market.

XPENG will issue Class A ordinary shares, representing approximately 3.25% of its outstanding share capital upon the completion of the issuance, to acquire the assets and R&D capabilities related to DiDi’s Smart EV project. DiDi will become a strategic shareholder of XPENG. The newly-developed Smart EV under this project will enter the market as XPENG’s first product of the new brand after transaction.

XPENG will become the first automotive manufacturing company drawing on DiDi’s comprehensive ecosystem. Both parties will explore strategic cooperation in a number of areas, including marketing, financial and insurance services, charging, Robotaxi and international market expansion.

Fangda acted as PRC legal counsel to XPENG and advised on PRC related transactions throughout the whole project. The team advising on this transaction was led by partners Jeffrey Ding (Capital Markets), Norman Zhong (Corporate/M&A) and Claudia Yun (Intellectual Property), and main team members included counsels Zhangxian Chen, Cindy Zhang, Qian Guan and Cassie Chang, with support from associates Zhuxin Liu, Wyatt Zhang and Kyle Liu.