The largest EV battery manufacturer in the world is entering the stock exchange. The money will go to Hungary

It will be the largest stock market debut from the beginning of 2025 – the Chinese battery manufacturer for CATL electric cars will enter the floor in Hong Kong in the coming days. The company will raise at least $ 4 billion under IPO, which will mostly finance its gigantic investment in Hungary.

According to the prospectus published on Monday by the stock exchange in Hong Kong, Catl shares will be valued this week, and the turnover will start on May 20, “Financial Times said. Until now, the securities of the largest battery manufacturer for electric vehicles in the world have been available only on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, i.e. in practice outside the reach of Western individual investors.

As part of the debut on the dance floor in Hong Kong, retailers will be able to buy a total of 8.8 million shares of the company. The upper valuation of the single CATL valuation is to be a maximum of 263 HKD, i.e. USD 33.75. 109.1 million shares will go to institutional investors.

The largest entities that will cover CATL shares will be the Chinese Naftowa Sinopec company, Kuwait Property Fund, the Asian investment company Hillhouse Capital and twenty state and private actors, including the Tiabkang Life insurer and the funds of Chinese local governments.

If the debut met with greater interest of investors than the available supply, it is provided for the possibility of issuing additional shares, which means that the maximum amount achieved during the issue may reach USD 5.3 billion.

Money for a Hungarian factory

The company plans to allocate 90% of IPO revenues in Hong Kong, to finance phases I and II factory in Hungary. CATL assumes that by 2030 it will produce 20 million batteries for electric vehicles per year, supplying European companies from the Automotive industry, such as Volkswagen, BMW and Tesla (already using the products of the Chinese company).

The remaining 10% of the debut funds are to support the research and development of new generation technologies, such as semiconductor batteries and sodium-ion batteries, which there are hope that they will prove to be more efficient and faster to charge.

In the first quarter of 2025, CATL had a 38.3% EV battery market share in the world, and the second in order was responsible for 16.7% of the sector, dominated by Chinese suppliers.

In 2024, CATL generated revenues at the level of 362.01 billion (approx. USD 50 billion), which meant a decrease by 9.7% yard. Despite this, the net profit of the battery manufacturer increased by 15% yard at that time. up to 50.75 billion due to the improvement in cost efficiency and operating scale.

The report for the first quarter of 2025 showed further improvement of the company's results, the net profit of which increased by 32.85% of yields during this period. up to 13.96 billion.

Mm

Source: