Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL), the world’s biggest maker of lithium batteries for new-energy vehicles, plans to raise HK$39.2 billion (US$5 billion) in a private share placement, stepping up efforts to expand its renewables business amid a global oil crunch.

In a statement to Hong Kong’s stock exchange before trading opened on Tuesday morning, the company said it planned to sell 62.4 million Hong Kong-traded shares for HK$628.20 apiece to at least six unspecified investors. The offer price represents a discount of about 7 per cent to CATL’s closing price on Monday.

The placement is the latest move by CATL to expand its footing in the green-energy industry after the world’s key economies were hit hard by soaring crude prices as a result of the US-Israel war on Iran. The conflict, which began on February 28, shows no signs of concluding immediately, with Iranian and US blockades of the Strait of Hormuz choking oil supplies and lifting crude prices to around US$100 a barrel, which economists have warned was likely to trigger stagflation.

The refinancing would consolidate CATL’s core competitive edge in the global market, the company said in the statement.

“The placement will effectively replenish the capital, optimise the shareholder structure and further integrate into the global capital markets, providing key financial security for accelerating the construction of the company’s overseas new energy projects, improving relevant production capacity and business support systems,” it said.

The proceeds would be used for construction of global new energy projects and the layout of zero-carbon business as well as investments in research and development, CATL said. They would also be used to supplement daily working capital and other general corporate purposes, it said.