Filed Pursuant to Rule 424(b)(3)
Registration No. 333-239047
PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT
(To Prospectus dated June 9, 2020)
NIO Inc.
Class A Ordinary Shares
CHJ Limited, a wholly-owned special purpose vehicle of ours, and Image Frame Investment (HK) Limited are lending to certain designated dealers up to 41,400,000 of our Class A ordinary shares, US$0.00025 per share, or approximately 2.7% of our total Class A ordinary shares issued and outstanding immediately upon Listing (as defined below) (without taking into account the additional shares to be issued under our stock incentive plans, Class A ordinary shares issued and reserved for future issuance upon exercising or vesting of awards granted under our stock incentive plans and assuming all Class B ordinary shares will be converted into Class A ordinary shares upon Listing), to facilitate the proposed listing of our Class A ordinary shares on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited, or the HKSE, by way of introduction, or the Listing. Our Class A ordinary shares will be traded on the HKSE under the stock code “9866”.
The Class A ordinary shares being lent hereby will be used by the designated dealers to create additional liquidity of our Class A ordinary shares on the HKSE through sales at market prices on the HKSE during a 30-calendar-day period from and including the listing date of our Class A ordinary shares on the HKSE, which is expected to be on or about March 10, 2022. See “Description of Liquidity Arrangements.” We are registering the Class A ordinary shares being registered hereby in connection with the sale of such shares to the extent that they are sold to U.S. persons, as defined under Regulation S, or for the account or benefit of U.S. persons.
Neither we nor any of our lending shareholders will receive any proceeds from the lending of the Class A ordinary shares being registered hereby. The Class A ordinary shares being registered hereby will be sold at prevailing market prices at the time of sale in liquidity trades on the HKSE during the liquidity period with delivery expected to occur from time to time in accordance with the rules of the HKSE.
Our ADSs are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, or the NYSE, under the symbol “NIO”. Each ADS represents one Class A ordinary share. On March 8, 2022, the reported last sale price of the ADSs on the NYSE was US$17.98 per ADS.
Investing in our ADSs and Class A ordinary shares involves risks. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page S-16. NIO Inc. is not an operating company in China but a Cayman Islands holding company with no equity ownership in its consolidated variable interest entities. We conduct our operations in China through (i) our PRC subsidiaries and (ii) our variable interest entity, or VIE, Beijing NIO Network Technology Co., Ltd., or Beijing NIO, with which we have maintained contractual arrangements. PRC laws and regulations restrict and impose conditions on foreign investment in value-added telecommunication services, including without limitation, performing internet information services, operating our website and mobile application as well as holding certain related licenses. Accordingly, we operate these businesses in China through our VIE, and rely on contractual arrangements among a PRC subsidiary of ours, our VIE and its nominee shareholders to control the business operations of our VIE. Investors in our ADSs and Class A ordinary shares thus are not purchasing equity interests in our VIE in China but instead are purchasing equity interests in a Cayman Islands holding company. As used in this prospectus supplement, “NIO,” “we,” “us,” “our company,” and “our” refer to NIO Inc., our Cayman Islands holding company and its subsidiaries, and in the context of describing our operations and consolidated financial information, our VIE, Beijing NIO, and its subsidiaries, and depending on the context, may also refer to Shanghai Anbin Technology Co., Ltd., or Shanghai Anbin, which is no longer our VIE as of March 31, 2021, and its subsidiaries. Beijing NIO and Shanghai Anbin, our current and past VIEs, and their subsidiaries, taking into account all of their respective business with or without foreign investment restrictions under PRC laws, did not contribute any external revenue to our total revenues in 2018, 2019, and 2020 and for the nine months ended September 30, 2021. Our current and past VIEs and their subsidiaries with foreign investment restricted businesses under PRC laws, being value-added telecommunications services, provided such services internally to our subsidiaries, and such services amounted to nil, nil, RMB0.2 million and RMB0.4 million (US$0.1 million) during 2018, 2019, 2020 and the nine months ended September 30, 2021, respectively.
Our corporate structure is subject to risks associated with our contractual arrangements with our VIE. If the PRC government deems that our contractual arrangements with our VIE do not comply with PRC regulatory restrictions on foreign investment in the relevant industries, or if these regulations or the interpretation of existing regulations change or are interpreted differently in the future, we could be subject to severe penalties or be forced to relinquish our interests in those operations. Our holding company, our PRC subsidiaries, our VIE and investors in our company face uncertainty about potential future actions by the PRC government that could affect the enforceability of the contractual arrangements with our VIE and, consequently, the business, financial condition and results of operations of our VIE and our company as a whole. Our Class A ordinary shares or our ADSs may significantly decline in value, if we are unable to assert our contractual control rights over the assets of our PRC subsidiaries and VIE that conduct all or substantially all of our operations. For a detailed description of the risks associated with our corporate structure, please refer to “Item 3. Key Information — D. Risk Factors — Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure” in our annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, or the 2020 Annual Report, and “Risk Factors — Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure” in Exhibit 99.1 of our current report on Form 6-K furnished to the SEC at 7:15 A.M. (Eastern Time) on February 28, 2022, or the Listing Current Report, both of which documents are incorporated herein by reference. We face various legal and operational risks and uncertainties related to doing business in China and we are subject to the complex and evolving PRC laws and regulations. The PRC government has significant authority to exert influence on the ability of a China-based company, such as us, to conduct its business. Therefore, investors of our company and our business face potential uncertainty from the PRC government. Changes in China’s economic, political or social conditions or government policies could have a material and adverse effect on our business and results of operations. For example, we face risks associated with regulatory approvals on offshore capital raising activities of listed companies, anti-monopoly regulatory actions, the use of our VIE and oversight on cybersecurity and data privacy, as well as the lack of PCAOB inspection on our auditors. These risks could result in a material adverse change in our operations and the value of our ADSs and Class A ordinary shares, significantly limit or completely hinder our ability to continue to offer securities to investors, or cause the value of such securities to significantly decline. For a detailed description of risks related to doing business in China, see “Item 3. Key Information — D. Risk Factors — Risks Related to Doing Business in China” in the 2020 Annual Report and “Risk Factors — Risks Related to Doing Business in China” in Exhibit 99.1 of the Listing Current Report. Our ADSs may be delisted or prohibited from being traded over-the-counter under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, or the HFCA Act, given that the PCAOB is unable to inspect or fully investigate auditors who are located in China. On June 22, 2021, the U.S. Senate passed a bill which, if enacted, would reduce the number of consecutive non-inspection years required for triggering the prohibitions under the HFCA Act from three years to two. The delisting or the cessation of trading of our ADSs, or the threat of their being delisted or prohibited from being traded, may materially and adversely affect the value of our ADSs and Class A ordinary shares. On December 16, 2021, the PCAOB issued a report to notify the SEC its determinations that it is unable to inspect or investigate completely registered public accounting firms headquartered in the mainland of China, and identified the registered public accounting firms in the mainland of China that are subject to such determinations. Our auditor is identified by the PCAOB and is subject to the determination. For more details, see “Risk Factors — Risks Related to Doing Business in China — Given that the PCAOB is unable to inspect or fully investigate auditors located in China, our ADSs may be delisted under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act. The delisting of our ADSs, or the threat of their being delisted, may materially and adversely affect the value of your investment. Additionally, the inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections deprives our investors of the benefits of such inspections” in Exhibit 99.1 of the Listing Current Report. NIO Inc. is a holding company with no material operations of its own. As a result, although other means are available for us to obtain financing at the holding company level, NIO Inc.’s ability to pay dividends to the shareholders and to service any debt it may incur may depend upon dividends paid by our PRC subsidiaries and service fees paid by our VIE in China. Under PRC law, NIO Inc. may provide funding to our PRC subsidiaries only through capital contributions or loans, and to our VIE only through loans, subject to satisfaction of applicable government registration and approval requirements. In 2018, 2019, 2020 and the nine months ended September 30, 2021, NIO Inc. provided funding to its intermediate holding companies and subsidiaries through capital contributions. NIO Inc. has also extended loans to its intermediate holding companies and subsidiaries, which outstanding principal amount was RMB20.7 million, RMB22.7 million, RMB19.7 million and RMB0.1 million (US$0.02 million), as of December 31, 2018, 2019 and 2020 and September 30, 2021, respectively, and such amounts were then loaned to the nominee shareholders of our VIE for use as their investment in our VIE. NIO Inc. has not declared or paid any cash dividends, nor does it have any present plan to pay any cash dividends on our ordinary shares in the foreseeable future. We currently intend to retain most, if not all, of our available funds and any future earnings to operate and expand our business. For more details, see “Prospectus Supplement Summary — Cash and Asset Flows through Our Organization” in this prospectus supplement.
Neither the United States Securities and Exchange Commission nor any other regulatory body has approved or disapproved of these securities, or determined if this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
The date of this prospectus supplement is March 9, 2022.