Tianqi Lithium kicks off Hong Kong IPO, aiming to raise US$2 billion in deal that could open the valve and unleash 180 companies on the market

Tianqi plans to sell 164.12 million shares at between HK$69 and HK$82 each, potentially raising up to HK$15.7 billion at the top end of the pricing range

The retail portion of the IPO ends on July 6, and the stock will begin trading on the main board of the Hong Kong exchange on July 13 under the mnemonic 9696

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A worker on a production line at a lithium battery plant for automotive use in the Hebei provincial city of Tangshan on April 11, 2019. Photo: Xinhua.

Published: 6:56pm, 29 Jun 2022Updated: 9:58pm, 29 Jun 2022

Tianqi Lithium, one of the world’s biggest lithium producers, will kick off its US$2 billion Hong Kong secondary listing on June 30, in what could be the city’s biggest financial deal so far this year,

Tianqi plans to sell 164.12 million shares at between HK$69 and HK$82 each, potentially raising up to HK$15.7 billion (US$2 billion) at the top end of the pricing range including a 15-per cent overallotment , according to a statement by the Chengdu-based company. The retail portion of the IPO ends on July 6, and the stock will begin trading on the main board of the Hong Kong exchange on July 13 under the mnemonic 9696.

The offering – the first to exceed US$1 billion in the past nine months in the city – could help loosen the valve in Hong Kong’s initial public offerings (IPO) pipeline, where at least 180 companies are biding their time to sell shares, waiting for the world’s fourth-biggest declining stock market to crawl out of its 12-month slump.

“We expect more sizeable deals [to be] done over the coming months, as sentiment improves, [giving] the city the chance to seize a place among the top five” in the 2022 worldwide rankings of IPO destinations, said Louis Lau, partner at KPMG’s capital markets advisory group, adding that he expects 80 IPOs to be completed this year in Hong Kong, raising a combined HK$200 billion.

The June 24, 2022 trading debut of GogoX Holding in Hong Kong, marking the return of the ceremonial gong used in the listing process on the Hong Kong exchange after a two-year hiatus caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo: Dickson Lee

Tianqi mines lithium ores and supplies lithium products. It owns the Cuola mine in Yajiang in Sichuan province, and has a 26 per cent stake in the Greenbushes mine in Western Australia, which is the world’s largest single source of spodumene, as the lithium-bearing ores are called.

A crucial material for battery packs, lithium is in high demand as the world switches to battery-powered electric vehicles and eschews automobiles powered by fossil fuels. China, the world’s largest market for automobiles and electric cars, is expected to see 60 per cent of all new vehicles being fully electric by 2030, according to a UBS forecast.