May 10 (Reuters) - Shares of China's Zeekr Intelligent

Technology ( ZK ) were scheduled to start trading on the New

York Stock Exchange on Friday after the electric-vehicle maker

priced its initial public offering at the top end of its

marketed range.

The debut would mark the first major U.S. listing by a

Chinese company since 2021 and would test the investor appetite

for such companies.

It would also be a barometer to gauge interest for EV

makers, which have seen profits being eroded due to a fierce

price war in China that has left automakers searching for

opportunities outside their domestic markets.

A plunge in valuations of some high-flying names in the

space could also spook investors. Rivian Automotive ( RIVN ) has

lost 85% since its IPO in November 2021, while Lucid Group ( LCID )

is left with a fourth of what it fetched when it signed

a deal with a blank-check firm earlier that year.

Zeekr, however, upsized its IPO, indicating strong demand

from investors. It sold 21 million American depositary shares

(ADSs) at $21 each to raise $441 million. It had earlier planned

to sell 17.5 million ADSs at a price between $18 and $21 apiece.

The IPO gives Zeekr a fully diluted valuation, which

includes securities such as options and restricted stock units,

of $5.5 billion at the high end of its targeted range, but still

lower than the $13 billion it fetched after a funding round last

year.

The number of Chinese companies that have pursued stock

market flotations in the United States in the past few years has

dropped, after Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Global was forced

to delist its shares following a backlash from Chinese

regulators.

Beijing has since softened its stance and released a set of

rules last year to revive such listings, after the U.S.

accounting watchdog and China resolved a longstanding audit

dispute in December 2022.