China electric truck startup Windrose to raise $200 million before US IPO, source says

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese electric truck startup Windrose is aiming to raise $200 million in its final round of funding in equity investments and debt before it seeks an initial public offering in the United States, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The fundraising target, which would help Windrose build overseas assembly plants to serve its clients in Europe and the United States, was doubled in size from an originally planned $100 million, said the person.

Belgium's wealth funds SFPIM and PMV have already committed a $50 million equity investment in Windrose, which is building a plant to assemble heavy electric trucks in the European country from 2025, the person added.

Citigroup would also offer Windrose $50 million in lending as part of the company's fundraising efforts, said the person and another source familiar with the matter. They both declined to be named as the plan is not yet public.

Windrose, Belgium's SFPIM and Citi all declined to comment. PMV did not respond to a query for comment.

The deal with SFPIM and PMV, if finalised, would mark the first investment by European sovereign funds into a Chinese electric vehicle company and comes as the European Commission has imposed an extra tariff of up to 38% on EVs imported from China to counter what it says are unfair state subsidies.

Windrose is also building a final assembly plant in Georgia in the United States to serve U.S. buyers that have placed the majority of its existing order book of 6,400 trucks, founder and Chief Executive Han Wen told Reuters.

(Reporting by Zhang Yan in Shanghai and Selena Li in Hong Kong; Additional reporting by Marine Strauss in Brussels; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)