BYD, backed by Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, prices follow-up stock sale mid-range to step up research in EV batteries

Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD, backed by Warren Buffett, sets final price of its 50 million stock sale at HK$276 per share

BYD’s second follow-on stock sale in nine months pulls in HK$1.8 billion, as company seeks to strengthen its research capability in electric car batteries

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BYD's showrom in Shanghai on August 12, 2021. Photo: Barcroft Media via Getty Images.

Published: 1:09pm, 1 Nov 2021Updated: 5:12pm, 1 Nov 2021

BYD, the Chinese battery and electric carmaker backed by the US investor Warren Buffett, has set the final offer price of its follow-on share sale at HK$276 per share, helping it to raise about US$1.8 billion in what amounts to its second placement in nine months.

The final offer price was set at about the midpoint of a range that was marketed to investors late last week, at between HK$273.5 (US$35.16) and HK$279.5 per share, for a discount of about 6.9 per cent to its Friday closing price in Hong Kong, BYD said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange Monday.

The Shenzhen-based electric vehicle maker will issue 50 million new shares, about 1.8 per cent of its enlarged issued share capital to no fewer than six new investors. The new shares begin trading Monday.

Goldman Sachs, China International Capital Corporation (CICC) and Bank of America are the joint global coordinators and placement agents of the sale.

BYD’s e2 electric vehicle (EV) on display during the media day of the Shanghai Auto Show on April 17, 2019. Photo: Reuters.

BYD, controlled by its billionaire founder Wang Chuanfu, is the second-largest maker of battery-powered electric cars in China by volume. Earlier in April, it unveiled its “Qin Plus” sedan for a top price of 166,800 yuan (US$26,000), pricing the model below electric cars made by Tesla, NIO, Xpeng and other competitors aimed for budget-conscious buyers.

“Electrification …[is] the future development direction of the automobile industry,” BYD said, adding that the company is aiming to “achieve an accelerated replacement of fuel vehicles by new energy vehicles through technological innovation.”