Mirae Asset Group has emphasized investment in the Chinese market this year and has participated as a cornerstone investor in the initial public offering (IPO) of China's battery company CATL, which was listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange in May. Analysts suggest that being a existing shareholder in the CATL deal, which has been highlighted as the largest IPO globally this year, gave them an advantage in securing priority allocation and additional shares.
According to the financial investment industry on the 3rd, Mirae Asset Securities and Mirae Asset Global Investments participated as cornerstone investors and received a pre-allocation of 1,768,400 shares of CATL at the public offering price of 263 Hong Kong dollars. Cornerstone investment is a method where institutional investors receive pre-allocations of some shares before the public offering price is finalized. Mirae Asset Securities invested $40 million, while Mirae Asset Global Investments invested $20 million, totaling $60 million (about 81.5 billion won).
In addition, Mirae Asset received an additional 15,000 shares from the international public offering, and affiliates such as Mirae Asset Securities' Hong Kong branch also received 220,000 shares. The total shares secured amount to 2,003,400 shares, which represent 1.44% of the total public offering shares and 0.04% of the total issued shares. Considering that CATL's stock price was around 330 Hong Kong dollars per share as of July 2nd, Mirae Asset has gained an estimated valuation profit of about 134 million Hong Kong dollars (approximately 23.2 billion won or 25%) from its public offering shares alone.
Market analyses indicate that Mirae Asset's proactive holding of CATL shares before its listing played a decisive role in the allocation of shares. Although its total holding percentage was not large, it is interpreted as an opportunity to be recognized by CATL as a stable long-term investor.
A source in the financial investment industry noted, "Given that it was the IPO of the world's leading battery company, competition among institutions to secure shares was intense," adding, "In the case of Mirae Asset, although the shareholding was small, it successfully secured a meaningful amount of equity."
Mirae Asset held less than 1% of minority equity in CATL prior to the listing. In its stock allocation report, CATL explained, "Mirae Asset was an existing shareholder holding minority shares in CATL before its listing, and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) exempted the application of listing rules, allowing H shares in the international public offering to be allocated to the existing small shareholders."
A senior official at Mirae Asset stated, "Being an existing shareholder of CATL greatly helped our participation as a cornerstone investor and allowed us to seize a good opportunity during the IPO process." However, regarding the scale of the pre-investment, they said, "We cannot disclose that."
Among the 23 cornerstone participants, 14, including the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), Taekang Life Insurance, and UBS Asset Management Singapore, were existing minority shareholders or affiliates. Of these, 12 received additional allocations in the international public offering. Unlike cornerstone investments that have a six-month lock-up period, the portions allocated from the international public offering are freely tradable without lock-up.
Recently, Mirae Asset has been expanding its investments in China. Mirae Asset Securities' Hong Kong branch invested 270 million Hong Kong dollars (about 48 billion won) in the cornerstone investment of the Chinese ride-hailing platform Chaochao Chuxing, listed on the 25th of last month, securing 6.5 million shares, approximately 15% of the public offering.
On the 26th of the same month, the postpartum care company Saint Bella also preemptively secured 8.75 million shares through the 'Mirae Asset Prime Alpha SP' fund managed by Mirae Asset.