Contemporary Amperex Technology, the world’s largest electric vehicle battery maker, started taking investor orders on Monday for a listing in Hong Kong that could raise more than HK$31 billion ($4 billion).
The company, widely known as CATL and headed by billionaire Robin Zeng, plans to sell 117.9 million shares in the Asian financial hub for a maximum price of HK$263 apiece, according to a May 12 prospectus, which would price the deal at HK$31 billion. The size may reach over $5 billion if underwriters choose to offer additional shares on stronger-than-expected demand, according to the prospectus. The final price may be announced as early as Tuesday, and public trading will start on May 20, the prospectus shows.
Already listed in Shenzhen, where CATL has a market capitalization of 1.1 trillion yuan ($150.6 billion), the Ningde, Fujian-based company is going ahead with a secondary listing to raise capital to finance construction of a factory in Hungary. First announced in 2022, the project is expected to involve an investment of 7.6 billion euros ($8.5 billion) and create almost 10,000 local jobs when completed.
The company has attracted about two dozen cornerstone investors including state-owned oil and gas giant China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group), sovereign wealth fund Kuwait Investment Authority and investment firm Hillhouse Group. They have agreed to subscribe to HK$20.4 billion worth of shares based on the maximum offering price, according to the prospectus. The cornerstone investors are committed to hold the shares for at least six months.
Yet the deal doesn’t come without challenges. Some investors might want CATL to price its Hong Kong shares lower, Kenny Ng, a Hong Kong-based securities strategist at Everbright Securities International, says by WeChat.
These investors might be comparing this offer with Chinese home appliance giant Midea Group’s secondary listing in Hong Kong, he says. The company, also already listed in Shenzhen, offered last year to sell shares in the Asian financial hub at a discount of as much as 25% to its mainland China share price to attract more global investors. CATL’s maximum pricing of its Hong Kong shares represents a mere 1.4% discount to its Friday closing price in Shenzhen.
What’s more, U.S. onshore funds can’t participate in the offer as the battery giant employs a so-called Regulation S mechanism, according to the prospectus. Under Regulation S of U.S. securities law, shares sold outside the U.S. are exempted from certain registration requirements of the U.S. government.
The company may have chosen to employ Regulation S to reduce risks amid rising geopolitical tensions between China and the U.S., Ng says.
In January, the U.S. Department of Defense named CATL a “Chinese Military Company” for allegedly aiding China’s military advances. The company has denied any involvement in military-related businesses but that hasn’t stopped U.S. lawmakers from urging investment banks Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase to pull out of any underwriting role in the deal due to “serious regulatory, financial and reputational risks.”
These two investment banks remain on CATL’s list of underwriters, which also include CICC, Goldman Sachs and UBS.
In the prospectus, the company discussed tariff-related risks as well.
The Donald Trump administration has imposed levies of as much as 145% on imports from China, although the two sides kicked off trade negotiations over the weekend that they both described as substantial.
CATL, on its part, says it only generates a “relatively limited” amount of revenue from China-made products that are directly exported to the U.S. But the company stresses in the prospectus that tariff policies “have been rapidly evolving,” and it can’t predict how duties in various countries may further evolve.
Last year, CATL’s total sales decreased 9.7% year-on-year to 362 billion yuan, while profit increased 16.8% to 55.3 billion yuan. The company relied on mainland China for 70% of sales, while the rest came from other countries and regions including Europe and the U.S., according to its prospectus.
