China’s third largest electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturer, China Aviation Lithium Battery (CALB), plans to launch an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong this year to raise up to HKD13.6bn (US$1.73bn) to help fund expansion.
The Jiangsu company said it planned to float 266m shares priced at between HKD38 and HKD51 to increase its exposure to the fast growing global EV market.
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The company reported revenue growth of 100% each year between 2019 and 2021 and net profit of CNY111m last year.
The company said its IPO application was approved by the Hong Kong stock exchange on 8 September.
China is the world’s largest EV market with sales of 5m units expected this year plus a further 1m hybrids.
CALB supplies batteries to EV manufacturers such as Xpeng, Geely, GAC Group and Leapmotor, as well as German powertrain supplier Continental.
CALB accounted for an estimated 6% of China’s EV battery output year to date compared with an estimated 80% by CATL and BYD combined.
Earlier this year, CALB said it had signed contracts with Guangzhou and Jiangmen to build two new EV battery factories each with annual production capacity of 50GWh. In May the company said it would also expand capacity in Wuhan to 50GWh.
CALB has seven plants in China – Luoyang, Xiamen, Changzhou, Wuhan, Chengdu, Hefei and Heilongjiang – with planned capacity of 200GWh by the end of 2022. The company plans to expand capacity to 500GWh by 2025 and 1,000GWh by 2030.
In August, the company said it planned to launch a series of new batteries which offer extended driving range, including a 350Wh/kg lithium ferromanganese phosphate multi element battery compatible with 4C fast charging, a 400Wh/kg semi solid battery, an all solid battery and a lithium sulphur battery.
