CATL said in an announcement on July 27 that it has signed an agreement with an equity fund of Hillhouse Capital, a private equity firm, to contribute RMB 300 million ($46 million) in one of the latter's funds.
The fund, Hillhouse Yurun, will mainly invest in cutting-edge technologies, chips, semiconductors, solar energy, batteries, smart driving, AI, and smart terminals.
The fund was established on October 16, 2020, with an initial operating term of 10 years, and its target fundraising size was capped at RMB 3.5 billion. Based on the fundraising, the general partner has raised the cap to RMB 6 billion.
CATL said its participation as a limited partner is mainly to expand its investment channels and obtain a reasonable return on investment.
The source of this capital is its own, and this investment will not affect the company's normal production and operation activities, CATL said.
CATL, China's largest power battery supplier, reported a net profit of RMB 5.58 billion ($861 million) in 2020, up 22.43 percent year-over-year, according to its earnings report released on April 27.
By the end of 2020, its installed capacity of power batteries was 31.9 GWh, accounting for 50 percent of the Chinese market.
The company's revenue in 2020 was RMB 50.319 billion, up 9.9 percent year-over-year.
After falling more than 8 percent yesterday, CATL shares traded in Shenzhen rose 6 percent to RMB 525.05 today.