Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
A new report details subpar investor returns in the mining industry over the last decade, particularly big cap diversified companies which have not adapted to new realities.
Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., the largest maker of batteries for electric cars, raised 45 billion yuan ($6.7 billion) after pricing one of the world’s biggest stock offerings this year.
The Chinese company, known as CATL, sold 109.76 million shares at 410 yuan apiece in an A-share private placement, it said in a statement Wednesday that confirmed an earlier Bloomberg News report.
The final price represents a 19% discount to the company’s last close in Shenzhen and is around a 21% premium to the offering’s floor price of 339.67 yuan. China Securities Co. was lead sponsor of the deal.
The share sale ranks as the second biggest globally this year, after rival battery maker LG Energy Solution Ltd. raised $10.7 billion in January in South Korea’s biggest ever initial public offering, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
CATL, based in Ningde in eastern China’s Fujian province, has said it plans to use the proceeds for the production and upgrade of lithium-ion battery manufacturing in four Chinese cities, as well as research and development.
Shares in the battery maker fell 0.2% in Shenzhen trading Wednesday before the announcement. The stock has dropped about 14% this year, giving it a market value of about $176 billion.
Companies benefiting from the electric vehicle boom have tapped the markets to sell billions worth of share sales in recent months. BYD Co., which makes both EVs and batteries, raised $1.8 billion in a Hong Kong share offering in October.
(By Pei Li, with assistance from Foster Wong and Vinicy Chan)
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