(Yicai Global) June 28 -- FAW Bestune, a sedan marquee of Chinese auto giant FAW Group, plans to bring in an external investor after accumulating a more than CNY10 billion (USD1.4 billion) loss over the past three years.

Bestune will transfer up to 3 percent of its equity to a new investor to raise at least CNY165 million (USD22.8 million) to fund the research, development, and marketing of new energy vehicles and supplement liquidity, according to a capital increase scheme it recently disclosed on the China Beijing Equity Exchange platform.

The investor, which was not named, is expected to coordinate and complement Bestune in terms of business background and provide support on market resources and industry chain, it added.

According to the capital increase scheme, Bestune will also receive an injection of CNY4 billion (USD553.5 million) from FAW and one of CNY1 billion from FAW’s equity investment arm in Tianjin. The price will be the same as that of the new investor.

Founded in 2006, Bestune was once a leading marquee in the Chinese market but began to lose ground to competitors in recent years. It reported losses of CNY2.1 billion last year, CNY3.8 billion in 2021, and CNY4.9 billion in 2020. In the first five months of this year, Bestune’s net loss was close to CNY1 billion.

Bestune has only two models on sale. It sold 11,532 all-electric multi-purpose NATs in the first five months and zero E01, an all-electric sport utility vehicle, data from the China Passenger Car Association showed.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Futura Costaglione