(Bloomberg) -- Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. has filed its application for a jumbo listing in Hong Kong that could be the city’s biggest stock offering in four years.
The long-awaited filing by CATL, as the world’s top electric-vehicle battery maker is known, comes amid a rally in Hong Kong’s stock market. The company could raise more than $5 billion, Bloomberg News reported earlier. That would be the largest since Kuaishou Technology’s $6.2 billion listing in early 2021.
CATL is expected to drive much of this year’s share-sale recovery in Hong Kong, with other mainland China-listed companies also seeking a second float in the city. The chief executive officer of Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. last month said about 100 companies were in the initial public offering pipeline.
Hong Kong’s IPO proceeds nearly doubled in 2024 to about $10 billion, but that’s still below the annual average of about $30 billion for the 10 years preceding the pandemic, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
CATL has appointed Bank of America Corp., China International Capital Corp., CSC Financial Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. as joint sponsors for the listing, according to the company’s filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Tuesday. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and UBS Group AG are also among the arrangers for the share sale.
The Ningde, Fujian-based EV battery giant said the funds raised will be used to fund its European expansion, namely in Hungary. Of the 4.9 billion euro ($5.1 billion) needed for the 100 gigawatt-hours factory, CATL said in its prospectus it has spent 700 million euro so far, with the secondary listing raising the rest of the funds.
The blockbuster listing comes amid rising geopolitical tensions which may endanger the battery-maker’s global expansion. Last month, CATL was added to a US Defense Department list of firms with alleged links to the Chinese military. While inclusion doesn’t carry specific sanctions, US businesses could be discouraged from dealing with the companies on the list.
Earnings by CATL, a major supplier to Tesla Inc., last year rose as much as 20% as the company tightened its grip on the EV battery market. CATL is on track to post a new peak in annual net income, though its sales are set to drop for the first time since it began disclosing results in 2015.
CATL accounted for over one-third of global battery shipments in the third quarter of 2024, according to Seoul-based SNE Research, more than double that of runner-up BYD Co. The company supplies not just Tesla but also many of the world’s biggest automakers, from Stellantis NV to Volkswagen AG.
CATL, based in southeast China’s Fujian province, currently trades on the Shenzhen stock exchange. It has a market value of about $152 billion.
The Hang Seng Index has climbed 6% in 2025, extending last year’s 18% advance. The gauge fell in each of the previous four years.
--With assistance from Danny Lee.
(Adds detail on what listing fundraising will be used for in sixth paragraph.)
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