WeRide Announces CEO’s Voluntary Lock-Up to Reinforce Long-Term Commitment as Company Launches Hong Kong IPO
NEW YORK, Oct. 28, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — WeRide Inc. (“WeRide” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: WRD), a global leader in autonomous driving technology, today announced that Dr. Tony Han, Founder, Chairman of the Board and CEO of the Company, has voluntarily committed to a three-year lock-up, effective as of October 28, 2025, covering all shares of the Company’s share capital or securities convertible into, exchangeable, or exercisable for any share of the Company’s share capital directly or indirectly owned or controlled by him (the “Shares”). During the lock-up period, Dr. Han will not sell, transfer, pledge, or otherwise dispose of any of the Shares, except as may be required by applicable law. “I am fully committed to WeRide’s long-term vision and global expansion,” said Dr. Han. “This commitment reflects my confidence in the Company’s fundamentals and long-term growth, and will further reinforce long-term shareholder confidence and support sustainable value creation.” This announcement follows WeRide’s launch of its Hong Kong Initial Public Offering (HKIPO) today under the stock code 0800. The Company plans to issue 88,250,000 Offer Shares in the transaction (pre-greenshoe), ahead of its anticipated listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) on November 6, 2025. Upon listing, WeRide will operate under a dual primary listing structure (NASDAQ: WRD, 0800.HK). As part of WeRide’s HKIPO, strategic players including Uber, Grab and Bosch have indicated demand to participate as anchor investors. The participation of these tech giants not only provides strong capital backing, but signals deep collaboration across technology, markets, ecosystem, and global operations to advance large-scale commercialization of WeRide’s autonomous vehicles. The Company had also previously received strategic investments from global top-tier industry partners such as Uber, NVIDIA, Bosch, and Renault-Nissan. WeRide is the only tech company with vehicles holding autonomous driving permits in 7 countries. Its vehicles have been deployed in over 30 cities across 11 countries, including China, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland,