A huge battery maker powers up in Hong Kong

Marketplace Morning Report

American Public Media

News, Business

4.5 • 808 Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2025

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

From the BBC World Service: Chinese EV battery maker CATL, which supplies batteries for Tesla and Toyota, has just gone public on Hong Kong's stock exchange, raising more than $4.5 billion. That makes it the biggest listing in the world this year. We have the details. Also on the program, we learn about an Australian government plan to improve the lives and economic realities of people with autism.

Transcript

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0:00.0	A huge EV battery maker powers up and the results are positive. Live from the UK, this is the Marketplace Morning Report from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Stuart Clarkson in Fort Leanna Burn. So it's the biggest public listing in the world this year, but you might not have even heard of the company. Chinese battery maker CATL has just gone public on the
0:21.9	Hong Kong Stock Exchange and shares have soared on the first day of trading today. BBC's
0:27.3	Surinjana Tuari has the details. Good morning. Hi there. So CATL supplies some of the world's
0:33.6	biggest electric vehicle makers. It has almost 40% of the global EV battery market
0:39.6	and has been a key player through the rapid growth in China's domestic EV sector. But it's also
0:46.4	a partner to the likes of Tesla and Toyota, among other auto giants. And how's it performed
0:53.8	in day one?
0:54.8	Yeah, there was high demand for CATL shares.
0:58.1	It opened at 12.5% higher than the initial price
1:02.6	and even went up to 18% during trade.
1:06.2	And that allowed CATL to raise around $4.6 billion.
1:11.7	Now, that was more than the goal of $4 billion, but it also makes it the largest public
1:18.6	listing in the world this year.
1:20.7	Now, this is the second public listing for CATL.
1:23.9	It's already on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, but there's been a lot of fanfare today as it went public and there's likely to be more going forward as well.
1:34.0	And this is a company on the march. They already worked with Tesla and Volkswagen and Toyota, but they want to get into more markets in Europe, don't they?
1:40.2	That's right. And this is not a company without any controversy. CATL was actually placed on a US Defense Department list just in January of Chinese companies that the department says work with China's military.
1:55.5	Beijing has previously criticized that list and CATL denies engaging in any military activities and said in its filing
2:03.5	documents what's called the prospectus that it is working with the US to address the quote
2:09.1	false designations. As you mentioned, CATL wants to expand in Europe. It says it wants to raise
2:15.7	the money from this IPO to fund a new factory in
2:19.6	Hungary that it hopes will supply European automakers like BMW, Stilantis and Volkswagen. But of
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