The world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) battery maker has seen its shares jump on their first day of trading in Hong Kong, as it made the biggest initial public offering (IPO) so far this year.
China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Limited (CATL) produces more than a third of all EV batteries sold worldwide and supplies major carmakers including Tesla, Volkswagen and Toyota.
The listing was closely watched as the US-China tariff war upended the global trading system and hit carmakers hard.
In January, the US Department of Defense added the battery maker to a list of businesses it says works with China’s military. CATL denies this, claiming its inclusion on the list was a “mistake”.
The company raised almost HK$35.7bn ($4.55bn: £3.4bn) from the listing, with its shares climbing by as much as 18%.
“The performance of the stock was very good in what is going to be a key IPO for Hong Kong given the size of the listing,” said Neil Beveridge, head of research for Asia at Bernstein.
CATL already trades on China’s Shenzhen Stock Exchange, where it has a valuation of more than one trillion yuan ($138.7bn: £104.3bn).
The firm is heavily reliant on the Chinese market, with the world’s second largest economy accounting for almost 70% of its total revenue.
Its relatively small sales to the US will ensure it is shielded from Trump’s trade policies, said Mr Beveridge.
“The direct implications of what we are seeing with tariffs will only have a limited effect on the company,” he told the BBC.
Founded in 2011 in the eastern Chinese city of Ningde, it enjoyed rapid growth thanks to the boom in the country’s EV industry.
The battery giant employs more than 100,000 people and has 13 production plants around the world.
CATL is currently building its second European factory in Hungary, after opening a plant in Germany in early 2023.
Credit: bbc