Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co., Ltd. completes GDR offering and SIX Swiss Exchange listing

Niederer Kraft Frey advised Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co., Ltd. on its offering of global depositary receipts (GDRs) and SIX Swiss Exchange listing under the China-Switzerland Stock Connect. Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, whose A Shares are listed on Shanghai Stock Exchange, sold 50,000,000 GDRs representing two A-Shares each at an offer price of USD 11.65, raising gross proceeds of approximately USD 582.5 million from the offering. Trading in the GDRs on SIX Swiss Exchange commences on 7 July 2023.

Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt is a leading global technology-driven enterprise in the new energy lithium-ion battery material industry. In 2022, Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt ranked second in the world in terms of shipment of ternary cathode materials (80.3 thousand tons) and ranked first in the world in terms of shipment of refined cobalt products (36.9 thousand tons). Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt covers all critical steps along the value chain of the industry, starting from development of resources (i.e., nickel, cobalt and lithium) to the manufacture of lithium-ion battery materials.

Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt expects to use the net proceeds from the transaction to expand production capacity of new energy battery materials, both in domestic and overseas markets and for investment in research and development.

CLSA Limited acted as sole global coordinator. CLSA Limited, Huatai Financial Holdings (Hong Kong) Limited, Citigroup Global Markets Limited and HSBC Continental Europe acted as joint bookrunners and managers in connection with the offering.

The NKF team advising on the transaction was co-led by Capital Markets partners Philippe Weber and Daniel Bono, working with associates Thiago Claro and Manuel Hirlinger (both Capital Markets).