Renault CEO sees Ampere IPO valuation of up to 10 billion euros -FT

By Gilles Guillaume

PARIS (Reuters) – The initial public offering (IPO) of Renault (EPA:)’s Ampere electric vehicle division could get a valuation of up to 10 billion euros ($10.8 billion), CEO Luca de Meo said.

Speaking to the Financial Times at the IAA (NYSE:) car show in Munich, De Meo said Ampere could be worth “eight, nine, 10 billion” euros when it lists on the stock market next year.

On Monday, De Meo confirmed to Reuters that the window for the IPO of Ampere, intended to become a “pure player” in EVs and software, was still set for next spring, market conditions permitting.

But he had refused to comment on a possible valuation for Ampere.

“It’s not me who sets the price. The only thing I can do is give some details, and that’s what we’re going to do next week, we’re going to New York, we have to we go around to investors,” de Meo told journalists on Monday.

While some carmakers like Renault rival Stellantis (NYSE:) refuse to spin off their EV business from their traditional combustion engine units, Renault has opted to split its operations into two divisions: Horse for combustion engines and Ampere for EVs.

Some investors have pressured carmakers to separate out their future-focused EV businesses from their combustion engine businesses that are rooted in old technology, to provide clarity on where they’re headed.

De Meo told journalists on Monday that spinning off Ampere will provide product specialization and a “substantive and holistic response to potential competition from the Chinese and the Americans.”

Last week, UBS estimated Ampere could be worth 3 billion to 4 billion euros when it goes public.

On Monday, de Meo told journalists that such an amount did not fully reflect the value of all the assets that will be dedicated to Ampere – car platforms, new electronic and software architecture, plants, engines and engineers.

($1=0.9275 euros)