Deutsche Bank’s latest 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed the Frankfurt-based lender expanded its positions in both US-listed Chinese carmakers Nio and XPeng during the first quarter.
The bank also doubled its position in the Guangzhou-headquartered carmaker XPeng to a nearly four year high.
The firm disclosed holding 169,205 shares in the company during the first quarter, a stake valued at $2.9 million by the end of March — which has since decreased by about $300,000 as the stock price declined.
The first-quarter position marks its highest holdings in XPeng since the third quarter of 2022, when the bank held 401,574 shares in the automaker — all disposed of by the end of the year, when Deutsche Bank exited its position.
Since reentering the stock in the third quarter of 2023, the German bank has held between 45,000 and just slightly over 100,000 shares.
Deutsche Bank first invested in XPeng in mid-2020, coinciding with the automaker’s initial public offering in August.
The bank acquired 339,253 shares in the company then, worth $6 million.
The position surpassed 1 million shares in mid-2021 — its record stake in XPeng — before being nearly halved in the following quarter to 594,057 shares.
Deutsche Bank closed 2021 holding 292,871 shares in the automaker. In the following two years, the holdings varied between 300,000 and 400,000 shares.
When the bank disclosed exiting the stock in September 2023, XPeng‘s shares were trading at around $18 — already significantly down from its $74.49 peak in late November 2020.
The stock has fluctuated in the past five years. It has traded below $30 since August 2022 and declined as low as $6.18 in November the same year.
The company’s shares started 2026 at $20 and fell to a low of $15.38 in February.
Although the stock briefly climbed back to $20 in March, it has since declined again, closing at $15.55 on Thursday.
Institutional Ownership
XPeng’s institutional ownership peaked in late 2021, with over 260 million shares held collectively. The figures have since halved in the past four years.
According to Nasdaq, the company currently has 288 institutional shareholders holding over 113 million shares combined.
Alibaba Group remained its largest institutional investor, with over 33.5 million shares worth $521 million.
UBS, which ranks as one of the top 10 largest investors, has trimmed its position by 17.5% during the first quarter, holding 4.4 million shares by the end of March. The stake is worth $68.5 million.
As of Friday, several institutions have yet to disclose their portfolio updates with the SEC.
Nio Stake
Deutsche Bank rebuilt its Nio stake to approximately 416,000 shares in the first quarter — a sharp reversal after nearly exiting the position in the fourth quarter, when its holdings dropped to just 647 shares.
The first-quarter purchase lifted the stake’s value to approximately $2.5 million, the largest position the bank has held in Nio since mid-2025.
A Seven-Year History
Deutsche Bank first invested in Nio in the fourth quarter of 2018, shortly after the EV maker’s New York Stock Exchange listing.
The initial position totalled 199,452 shares worth nearly $1.3 million.
Holdings expanded eightfold by mid-2019, reaching nearly 4 million shares valued at $10 million as Nio’s US-listed depositary receipts traded near their all-time low of $1.19, recorded in early October that year.
The position fluctuated as the stock surged through 2020 and into 2021, peaking at $66.99 on January 11, 2021.
Deutsche Bank trimmed to roughly 1.2 million shares in the first half of 2020 before rebuilding to over 3 million by year-end.
The bank’s first-quarter 2021 disclosure showed 3.7 million shares — worth $145 million at Nio’s peak.
Holdings hit a record 7.1 million shares in the third quarter of 2021 before the bank began a gradual reduction that has continued for most of the period since.
Nio’s US-listed shares have lost 91.2% of their value from the 2021 peak, closing at $5.87 on Thursday.
Institutional Ownership
Between mid-2022 and mid-2025, the number of Nio shares held by institutional investors dropped by over 61%.
In the third quarter, however, institutional interest in Nio jumped as the stock more than doubled, before ultimately losing part of those gains in the final months of the year.
Nio currently has 508 institutional owners holding cumulative positions of approximately 295 million shares, according to Nasdaq.
By the end of 2025, the largest shareholders included CYVN Holdings — its main backer — D.E. Shaw & Co (over 48 million shares), BNP Paribas and Jane Street Group with around 20 million shares each.
The EV maker is expected to report first quarter financial results between between late May and early June.
After posting its first-ever profitable quarter in the fourth quarter of 2025, the company is targeting its first full year of profitability in 2026.
