Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), the world’s largest electric vehicle battery maker, saw its shares surge as much as 18% on its first day of trading in Hong Kong, despite ongoing geopolitical uncertainties. The company’s shares opened at 296 Hong Kong dollars ($37.8) on Tuesday, significantly above the subscription price of 263 Hong Kong dollars ($33.6) set in a stock listing that raised $4.6 billion the previous week. The stock rose as high as 311 Hong Kong dollars during the trading day, according to Refinitiv data.
The listing, the largest globally this year, demonstrates how Chinese companies continue to pursue global expansion plans despite trade tensions with the US. In January, CATL was added to a Pentagon blacklist of companies allegedly working with China’s military, although the company has denied such links. Last month, the House Select Committee on China urged US investment banks JPMorgan and Bank of America to withdraw from underwriting CATL’s Hong Kong listing, but both banks proceeded with the deal.
“The Hong Kong stock listing signifies our deeper integration into the global capital markets,” Robin Zeng, CATL’s founder and chairman, stated at the listing ceremony. “CATL is not just a battery component manufacturer but also a provider of system-level solutions, committed to becoming a zero-carbon technology company.”
The company supplies major EV manufacturers including Volkswagen, Stellantis, and BMW. Its overseas sales accounted for over 30% of its revenue last year, according to a May 12 stock exchange filing. CATL recently unveiled an EV battery capable of providing 320 miles of range with just a five-minute charge, surpassing competitor BYD’s technology which offers 250 miles at a similar charge time.
The Hong Kong listing will enhance CATL’s foreign currency reserves and ability to integrate cross-border resources, according to a company representative quoted by the National Business Daily, a Chinese state-run newspaper. This is CATL’s second listing, following a Shenzhen IPO in 2022 that raised $6.7 billion. The company operates 13 battery factories worldwide, including in China, Germany, and Hungary, and is progressing with projects in Spain and Indonesia.
Despite ongoing trade tensions, including tariffs imposed by the US, CATL has maintained that its direct exports to the US have been relatively small. “Tariff policies are evolving rapidly, making it difficult to assess their impact on our business at this stage,” the company stated in its filing, adding that it will continue to monitor developments.
