EV Battery Maker CATL Shares Surge in Hong Kong After US$4.6B IPO

The world’s largest electric vehicle battery maker has seen its shares jump on its first day of trading in Hong Kong, as it made the biggest initial public offering, IPO, so far this year.

China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Limited produces more than a third of all EV batteries sold worldwide and supplies major carmakers including Tesla, Volkswagen and Toyota.

The listing was closely watched as the US-China tariff war upended the global trading system and hit carmakers hard.

In January, the US Department of Defense added the battery maker to a list of businesses it says works with China’s military. CATL denies this, claiming its inclusion on the list was a mistake.

The company raised almost HK 36 billion or nearly US$5 billion from the listing, with its shares climbing by as much as 18 per cent.

Neil Beveridge, head of research for Asia at Bernstein said the performance of the stock was very good in what is going to be a key IPO for Hong Kong given the size of the listing.

CATL already trades on China’s Shenzhen Stock Exchange, where it has a valuation of more than 1 trillion yuan or nearly US$139 billion.

The firm is heavily reliant on the Chinese market, with the world’s second largest economy accounting for almost 70 per cent of its total revenue.