(Bloomberg) -- Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. jumped in its Hong Kong trading debut after the Chinese battery giant wrapped up the world’s biggest listing this year by raising HK$35.7 billion ($4.6 billion) despite being blacklisted by the Pentagon and grinding through geopolitical storms.
Shares of CATL, as the largest maker of electric-vehicle batteries is known, climbed 16% to HK$306.20 on Tuesday. Though Hong Kong shares of Chinese companies typically trade at a discount to those in the mainland, CATL soared above its stock price in Shenzhen, where it rose 1.2%.
For investors, the allure of buying into a blue-chip stock at the forefront of electric-vehicle technology outweighed the risks of getting caught up in the ongoing turbulence in Sino-US relations. The success of the stock offering, which may increase to $5.3 billion if CATL exercises an option to do so, single-handedly doubled Hong Kong’s proceeds from listings this year and could embolden other companies to go public.
CATL is “a true champion enabling the energy transition, a symbol of China’s success as a global green leader,” said Karine Hirn, a partner at East Capital Group.
Priced at around 17 times current earnings multiples, CATL’s Hong Kong shares have room to rise 50%, driven by strong earnings and attractive valuations, said Johnson Wan, head of China industrials research at Jefferies in Hong Kong.
“It’s a no-brainer buy,” said Wan.
The listing also attracted big interest from options traders. More than 34,000 options changed hands, with bullish contracts outnumbering bearish ones. That’s the highest volume among Hong Kong’s largest listings of the past decade that had options on their first day, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
CATL supplies batteries to top-tier customers such as Tesla Inc., Volkswagen AG, Ford Motor Co. and Mercedes-Benz Group AG. It has a market share of roughly 38% in electric-car batteries, comfortably ahead of its closest challenger, top EV maker BYD Co.’s 17%, according to SNE Research.
The Ningde, Fujian-based company generated sales of $50 billion and net income of $7 billion last year. And it plans to build on that — recently unveiling batteries that can charge 520km (323 miles) of range in 5 minutes and up to 1,500km on a full charge.
The funding, much of it for a $7.6 billion overseas expansion in Europe, will be used to fuel its growth outside China, where profit margins are juicier.
Its continued growth has enriched its founders, top investors and executives, making them some of the wealthiest people in the world. Four Chinese businessmen, including Chairman Robin Zeng, have amassed a combined fortune of more than $73 billion — mainly derived from their stakes in the company — according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index figures as of Monday.
“This listing signifies our deeper integration into the global capital markets and marks a new milestone in our mission to drive the global zero-carbon economy,” Zeng said at the Hong Kong exchange listing ceremony.
CATL’s rise hasn’t come without obstacles. The company was put on a Pentagon blacklist in January based on allegations of CATL’s links to the Chinese military — something the company has denied repeatedly. In April, a US congressional committee publicly called on JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. to stop working on the listing because of CATL’s alleged military links — again, denied by the company. But both American banks stuck with the deal.
The Chinese company’s management has said CATL expects “little impact” from the risk of US tariffs. That stands in stark contrast to a growing list of automakers from Toyota Motor Corp. to Stellantis NV and General Motors Co. warning of billions in extra costs.
CATL priced its Hong Kong stock at HK$263 apiece — a smaller discount to its Shenzhen-traded shares, when compared with previous second listings: Appliance maker Midea Group Co. last year sold its stock in its $4.6 billion Hong Kong listing at a discount of about 20%, while China Tourism Group Duty Free Corp. did so at around 27.5% in 2022. More broadly, Hong Kong shares typically trade at a 25% discount to their stocks on the mainland, according to the Hang Seng Stock Connect China AH Premium Index.
“People like the fact that now you can get access to one of the best companies in China without having to go to A-shares,” said Eugene Hsiao, head of China equity strategy and China Autos at Macquarie Capital. “I think this is why they didn’t have to come out with massive discounts. They knew the demand was there.”
CATL will be the latest firm to go ahead with a share sale after US President Donald Trump’s broad tariff rollout. Even before the latest 90-day pause on many of the tariffs, many Chinese companies had gone ahead with their listing plans as they sought cash from investors. CATL’s share offering will help Hong Kong’s market for listings this year surge to over $22 billion, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.
--With assistance from Danny Lee, Filipe Pacheco, Dave Sebastian, Kevin Dharmawan, Sabrina Mao and Cecile Vannucci.
(Updates shares in second paragraph, options data in 7th paragraph.)
