According to Bloomberg, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing's listing committee held a hearing on Thursday and approved the Hong Kong listing application of the company listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The company is considering raising between $1 billion and $1.2 billion through the IPO. Tianqi Lithium Industry plans to start assessing investor demand as early as next week. Discussions are still ongoing and details such as the amount and timing of funding may still change.
It is rumored that Tesla, Inc. will also participate in Tianqi lithium industry IPO subscription. In this regard, Tianqi lithium industry staff said: "the company is actively promoting H-share listing related work." With regard to the investor information of Hong Kong stocks, the company has no further information that can be disclosed or should be disclosed but not disclosed. Please refer to the company announcement. "
Xia Juncheng, director and president of Tianqi Lithium Industry, said earlier that the financing of H-share issuance is of great significance to the future development of the company, which will help the company to further optimize its capital structure, reduce leverage and financial risks, reduce financial costs and enhance profitability; at the same time, benefiting from the rapid development of downstream markets, the company's product demand is strong, and H-share issuance financing will help the company to seize industry opportunities and further develop its core business. In addition, the issuance of H shares will help the company to expand overseas financing channels, further enhance the company's international reputation and influence, and lay a good foundation for the company to continue to implement the internationalization strategy in the future.
According to the Wood Mackenzie report, Tianqi Lithium is the world's largest lithium producer in terms of 2020 production; Tianqi Lithium ranks third in terms of 2020 lithium revenue; and Tianqi Lithium is the fourth largest producer of lithium compounds in the world and the second largest in Asia in terms of 2020 production.
Last year, Tianqi lithium industry achieved a turnaround from losses to profits. The operating income was 7.663 billion yuan, an increase of 136.56% over the same period last year, and the net profit was 2.079 billion yuan, an increase of 213.37% over the same period last year. The company posted a net loss of 1.834 billion yuan in 2020 and 5.983 billion yuan in 2019.
In the first quarter of this year, the company achieved an operating income of 5.257 billion yuan, an increase of 481.41% over the same period last year, and a net profit of 3.328 billion yuan, an increase of 1442.65% over the same period last year.
During the period when Tianqi Lithium Industry was approved for listing in Hong Kong twice, the price of lithium salts such as lithium carbonate rose sharply. Data from Zhongyuan Securities show that at the beginning of 2018, battery-grade lithium carbonate was 170000 yuan / ton, but it fell to 79000 yuan / ton at the end of the year.
According to statistics, by the end of 2021, the number of new energy vehicles in the country reached 7.84 million, an increase of 59.25% over the same period last year. 2.95 million new energy vehicles were newly registered in 2021, an increase of 151.61 percent over the same period last year. In 2017, the number of newly registered new energy vehicles was only 650000. The production and sales of new energy vehicles are booming, and the price of lithium salt, as the core raw material of lithium battery, has also soared, and the major brokerages have shouted the slogan "lithium price is not the highest, only higher".
The price of battery-grade lithium carbonate stabilized at 470000 yuan / ton on June 2 this year, about five times higher than at the end of 2018, according to Shanghai Steel Federation.
The financial turnaround and the sharp rise in product prices may become the strength for Tianqi lithium industry to list in Hong Kong. WIND data show that in the past six months, 12 investment institutions have rated the company as "buy" or "increase their holdings".
As of June 16, Tianqi Lithium Industry A shares were trading at 114.75 yuan per share, with a market capitalization of 169.497 billion yuan.