UBS Group has raised its stake in Chinese EV maker Nio by nearly 70% to a record level in the first quarter of 2025, solidifying its position as the company’s largest institutional shareholder.
The Zurich-based bank held 74.96 million Nio shares as of the end of March, up 69.7% from the previous quarter — according to its latest 13F filing.
It marks the highest number of Nio shares held by UBS since it began investing in the Shanghai-based company in late 2018, immediately after the EV maker debuted on Nasdaq.
As of March 31, UBS’s stake in Nio was valued at over $285 million.
Its holdings reached a low of 1.84 million shares in early 2022, before gradually climbing again.
The bank had held just between 3 and 6 million shares between late 2022 and late 2024.
In the final quarter of last year, the stake increased nearly 1,000% to over 44 million shares before surging again early this year to 74,955,469 shares.
The bank also disclosed holding 13.7 million Nio call options as of March 31, a 32% increase from the prior quarter, alongside 5.35 million put options — a more than 343% increase.
The surge in put options indicates that UBS may be hedging downside risk.
In the same filing, the firm revealed it acquired more than 33 million shares in Lucid between January and March, overtaking BlackRock to become the US company’s second-largest institutional shareholder.
Meanwhile, UBS trimmed its stake in Rivian by about 3% and offloaded more than 750,000 Tesla shares (or 10%) during the quarter.
JP Morgan Chase disclosed this week that it nearly exited its position in the first quarter.
Additionally, the bank sold 97% of its call options on Nio while simultaneously buying put options, betting on a potential decline in the stock.
Institutional investors have steadily reduced their exposure to Nio over the years, amid the company’s prolonged share price decline.
According to Fintel, 491 institutional investors now hold approximately 199.6 million shares, down about 66% from early 2022.
Back then, institutions held nearly 600 million shares, and the stock traded in the $15—$25 range.
The stock reached an all-time high of $66.99 in January 2021. Since then, Nio shares have shrunk 93.8%, closing at $4.12 on Tuesday.
Goldman Sachs also trimmed its position in Nio to a six-year low, EV reported over the weekend.
BlackRock increased its stake in the company by 64.9% in the first quarter of 2025.
Nio Group saw its main brand deliver 19,269 vehicles in April, increasing both sequentially (from 10,219) and year over year (from 15,620).
Across the three brands, the Group expects to double vehicle deliveries this year to about 440,000 units.
The company, founded and led by William Li, counts on its recently launched two sub-brands to help double the sales volume and achieve profitability by the year end.
The Onvo brand was unveiled a year ago and began deliveries of its debut model, the L60, last September.
Demand for the five-seat SUV has missed internal expectations, with the last three months averaging about 4,400 units.
The Firefly brand, unveiled late last year, started deliveries in China of its EV compact model in late April.
After registering 350 units in the first week of May, it recorded 470 between May 5 and 11.
