Media365
Shares of Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL), the world’s largest manufacturer of batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage, fell on Tuesday following the announcement of a plan to raise HK$39.2 billion (US$5 billion) in a private share placement to step up expansion of its renewables business amid a global oil crunch.
Its Hong Kong-listed shares tumbled nearly 7 per cent to HK$629 on Tuesday. The company’s yuan-denominated shares slipped 0.7 per cent to 431.91 yuan (US$63.24) in Shenzhen.
In a statement to Hong Kong’s stock exchange before trading opened on Tuesday morning, the company said it planned to sell 62.4 million Hong Kong-traded shares for HK$628.20 apiece to at least six unspecified investors. The offer price represents a discount of about 7 per cent to CATL’s closing price on Monday.
The placement is the latest move by CATL to expand its footing in the green-energy industry after the world’s key economies were hit hard by soaring crude prices as a result of the US-Israel war on Iran. The conflict, which began on February 28, shows no signs of concluding immediately, with Iranian and US blockades of the Strait of Hormuz choking oil supplies and lifting crude prices to around US$100 a barrel, which economists have warned was likely to trigger stagflation.
The refinancing would consolidate CATL’s core competitive edge in the global market, the company said in the statement.
“The placement will effectively replenish the capital, optimise the shareholder structure and further integrate into the global capital markets, providing key financial security for accelerating the construction of the company’s overseas new energy projects, improving relevant production capacity and business support systems,” it said.
