File photo/Zhang Jian (NBD)

Feb. 28 (NBD) – China's leading electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd ("CATL", 300750.SZ) aims to raise up to 20 billion yuan (2.9 billion U.S. dollars) through a private placement of shares to no more than 35 investors, so as to fund the expansion of its battery production capacity, the company said in a regulatory filing Wednesday.

According to the announcement, the money raised will be largely used to increase the battery output in Xining of Qinghai, Jiangsu and Sichuan, and the remaining will be put into an energy storage research project and used for the replenishment of the working capital.  

National Business Daily noticed that in a separate filing on the same day, CATL announced its plan to invest no more than 10 billion yuan in a lithium-ion battery manufacturing base in Ningde, Fujian. 

Stock of CATL declined by 7.82 percent to close at 137.79 yuan in the morning session of Thursday, following a 2.21 percent drop on the previous day. 

Currently, the shortage of EV batteries is becoming a "new normal" worldwide with the fast growth of the new-energy vehicle market led by the rise of startups like NIO and transformation of traditional carmakers. 

According to the Power Battery Application Branch of China Industrial Association of Power Sources, China's installed capacity of EV batteries was 62.2GWh in 2019. And a report by research firm Intelligence Research Group says that the demand for such batteries will reach up to 182.84GWh by 2020.

Email: gaohan@nbd.com.cn