Contemporary Amperex Technology, or CATL, the world’s largest maker of electric vehicle batteries, plans to go ahead with its Hong Kong listing this quarter despite turmoil in the stock market, according to sources close to the deal.
CATL intends to proceed with the listing in the next three months, although some details, including the amount to be raised, have not yet been finalised, the sources told the Post.
The Shenzhen-listed company filed for a listing in Hong Kong in February, which was approved by the mainland’s regulator in March. The company has not disclosed the fundraising target, but bankers expect it to be around US$5 billion, which would make it the largest since Kuaishou Technology raised US$6.2 billion from its initial public offering (IPO) in January 2021.
CATL’s fundraising will be a shot in the arm for Hong Kong’s stock market. The benchmark Hang Seng Index slumped 13.2 per cent on Monday, its biggest one-day decline since October 1997, after the US imposed hefty tariffs on Chinese exports.
07:26
Stock markets in Asia resume slump as hefty US tariffs on China take effect
Stock markets in Asia resume slump as hefty US tariffs on China take effect
The back-and-forth tariffs between the US and China have led to uncertainty in the market, which may force some of the 178 companies that have filed IPO applications with the Hong Kong stock exchange to delay their listing plans, according to market observers.
“It is inevitable that IPOs and other fundraising activities on the stock market may slow down in the second quarter as a result of the recent market uncertainties,” Edward Au Chun-hing, the president of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants, said in a media briefing on Wednesday.
