The pricing of Contemporary Amperex Technology’s (CATL) Hong Kong shares at the top end of the range bodes well for China’s leading companies eyeing a listing in the city, but the richly valued offer price may hurt the new stock’s first-day performance due to its smaller-than-average discount to the company’s mainland-traded shares.
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The Ningde, Fujian province-based maker of lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles (EV) is expected to raise HK$35.66 billion (US$4.6 billion) from the sale of 135.6 million shares at HK$263 apiece, the Post reported on Wednesday, making it the world’s largest listing this year. CATL will reveal the final offer price on Monday night and start trading the following day.
Shenzhen-listed CATL, which is capitalised at 1.2 trillion yuan (US$166.4 billion), is the ninth-biggest company trading on the mainland and one of the few big names that have yet to go public in Hong Kong.
Wu Qing, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, reaffirmed the support for high-quality Chinese companies to list in the city last week, showcasing Beijing’s resolve to solidify Hong Kong’s position as a top global financial centre amid an all-out confrontation with the US. The Hong Kong stock exchange also said that it would fast-track approvals for dual listings.
CATL’s listing “is actually one of the major measures to support Hong Kong’s equity market, and one of the ways to help Chinese leading companies to capture more international funds”, said Jason Chan, an equity strategist at Bank of East Asia in Hong Kong.
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CATL’s offer price is 6.7 per cent below the close of 260.18 yuan for its Shenzhen-listed shares on Thursday. That compares with the average 25 per cent discount for the Hong Kong-traded shares of the 158 dual-listed Chinese companies, such as ICBC and Ping An Insurance Group.