CATL guides IPO price at top end in world's biggest listing of 2025

Attendees at the Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd. (CATL) Tech Day event in Shanghai, China, on Monday, April 21, 2025. CATL, the world’s biggest producer of batteries for electric vehicles, unveiled the latest versions of its cells, playing up the durability and range of its products as the perceived limits of EVs still stop many consumers from making the switch. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. is poised to raise at least $4 billion in its Hong Kong share listing after planning to price it at the top end it had earlier indicated, according to people familiar with the matter, thanks to strong demand for the stock.

CATL, as the Chinese electric-vehicle battery maker is known, is telling investors it plans to price its shares at HK$263 apiece, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public. That’s the maximum set when it started taking investor orders Monday. The company plans to stop taking orders Wednesday, the people said.

CATL would be raising HK$31 billion ($4 billion) at that price, based on the 118 million shares in the base offering. The amount could rise to $4.6 billion if a 15% upsize option is exercised. The company expects the shares to start trading on May 20.

Deliberations are ongoing and no final decisions have been made, the people said. A representative for CATL didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

CATL has powered through what is likely to be the world’s biggest listing this year, even with the tensions between Beijing and Washington in the background. A US congressional committee last month called on the two lead US banks working on the listing, Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., to withdraw from the deal, citing concerns including a CATL blacklisting by the Pentagon. Both firms are still working on the transaction.

The price guidance brings the deal, set to be Hong Kong’s biggest listing since Kuaishou Technology’s $6.2 billion initial public offering in 2021, closer to completion. Investors clamored for multiple times the shares available on the first day of the offering, people familiar with the matter said, even as the company restricted certain US investors.

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 more than double proceeds in Hong Kong’s market for listings this year, which could surge to over $22 billion, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

Bank of America, China International Capital Corp., China Securities International and JPMorgan are leading CATL’s offering. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and UBS Group AG are also arranging the deal.