(Yicai) Jan. 29 -- Caocao Mobility, the ride-hailing firm owned by Geely Holding Group’s founder and chairman, has unveiled a private placement scheme, with most of the proceeds to be allocated to its robotaxi business.

Caocao will issue up to 12 million shares at HKD32.46 (USD4.16) apiece for a total of HKD383 million (USD49.1 million), the company announced yesterday. The new shares will equal about 2.1 percent of the total.

Caocao [HKG: 2643] was trading down 1.5 percent at HKD34.98 as of 2.30 p.m. today. Private placements can depress a listed firm’s shares through equity dilution, as the ownership percentage and earnings per share of existing shareholders fall if they are not involved in the placement.

Sixty-eight percent of the private placement’s proceeds will be used to develop Caocao’s domestic and international robotaxi business, 22 percent to expand its corporate services, and 10 percent for working capital and other general corporate purposes, the firm noted.

The robotaxi market holds tremendous potential and is expected to bring significant changes to the mobility industry. Caocao has identified robotaxi as a core strategy for its future development, it said.

Caocao is collaborating with Geely and relevant partners to develop a fully customized robotaxi model, equipped with exclusive pre-installed autonomous driving components and applications, which is set to be unveiled later this year. The model plans to deploy a total of 100,000 robotaxis by 2030.

Last year, Caocao unveiled its global strategy, planning to establish five major operational centers worldwide over the next decade, expand robotaxi services to 100 cities, and achieve a cumulative CNY100 billion (USD14.4 billion) in gross transaction value.

Editor: Futura Costaglione