Tesla’s Chinese battery supplier plans US$9 billion placement in world’s fourth-largest stock sale this year amid EV boom

Contemporary Amperex Technology will sell some 232.9 million shares, or a 10 per cent stake, to as many as 35 institutional investors

Stock’s 43 per cent surge this year has vaulted chairman Robin Zeng to top of Hong Kong’s wealth charts with a fortune of US$45 billion

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Workers check products at Contemporary Amperex Technology’s plant in Ningde, Fujian province. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 3:16pm, 13 Aug 2021Updated: 9:17pm, 13 Aug 2021

Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), the world’s biggest maker of lithium-ion batteries, plans to raise as much as 58.2 billion yuan (US$8.99 billion) from a private share placement to fund its expansion plans, making it the world’s fourth-largest stock offering this year.

The Tesla supplier, controlled by Hong Kong’s richest tycoon Robin Zeng Yuqun, will sell some 232.9 million shares, or a 10 per cent stake, to as many as 35 institutional investors including local and foreign money managers, according to a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Friday.

The proceeds will be used to fund five lithium-ion battery projects for electric vehicles (EV), support technology innovation and replenish working capital and the proposal is subject to approval by shareholders and the stock exchange, it said.

Shares of CATL closed less than 0.1 per cent higher at 502.05 yuan in Shenzhen, reversing an intraday loss of as much as 4.4 per cent, as concerns waned that the private placement will dilute earnings per share.

Shenzhen-listed CATL has a market cap of 1.2 trillion yuan, making it the fourth-largest company in China. Photo: VCG via Getty Images

The stock reached an all-time high of 569 yuan on August 4, vaulting its chairman Zeng to the top of the wealth rankings in Hong Kong with a personal fortune of US$45 billion, Bloomberg data shows. He has added US$13.6 billion to his wealth this year as CATL surged 43 per cent against a 5.1 per cent drop in the broader onshore market.