China's CATL aims to raise $2.85 billion for EV battery projects

BEIJING (Reuters) - CATL <300750.SZ>, China's top electric vehicle battery maker, said it aims to raise up to 20 billion yuan ($2.85 billion) in a private placement of shares to fund its battery projects and boost working capital.

The fundraising will help CATL to expand its battery-making capacity in Fujian, Jiangsu and Sichuan, as well as an energy storage research project, the company said in a filing to the Shenzhen stock exchange late Wednesday.

The company has partnerships with Tesla <TSLA.O>, Volkswagen <VOWG_p.DE> and BMW <BMWG.DE>.

In a separate filing on Wednesday, the battery maker said it plans to invest 10 billion yuan in a battery manufacturing base in Ningde, where it is headquartered.

China has set an ambitious plan for new energy vehicles, which include battery-only, plug-in hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles. However, their sales sank 51.6% in January, industry data showed, due to a cut in subsidies, the Lunar New Year holiday starting earlier than last year as well as the impact of the outbreak in China of a new coronavirus.

(Reporting by Yilei Sun and Brenda Goh; Editing by Maju Samuel)