(Bloomberg) -- CALB Co., a Chinese battery supplier for electric vehicle makers, is seeking to raise as much as HK$13.6 billion ($1.7 billion) in its Hong Kong initial public offering. 

The Jiangsu-based company will start taking orders from investors for about 265.8 million shares and is marketing them at between HK$38 and HK$51 each, according to the prospectus. Tianqi Lithium Corp., electric carmaker XPeng Inc. and phone firm Vivo Mobile Communication Co. are among the 15 cornerstone investors that agreed to purchase around $735.5 million worth of stock.

The offering is among a group of potential listings that could revive Hong Kong’s flagging IPO market, after a dearth of sizable debuts in the first half of the year. Funds raised in the Asian financial hub have slumped as surging inflation and rising rates drove volatility in equities and kept issuers on the sidelines. 

Established in 2007, CALB makes lithium batteries for electric vehicles and other products. It operates major production bases in China, including Changzhou, Xiamen and Wuhan, according to its website. The company supplies batteries to the EV brands of carmakers including Guangzhou Automobile Group, Chongqing Changan Automobile Co. and Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology Co., the prospectus shows. Leapmotor is looking to raise as much as $1 billion in a Hong Kong IPO of its own this month.

CALB ranked sixth by sales in global EV battery market in July, overtaking South Korea’s Samsung SDI Co., according to data released by Seoul-based SNE Research this week.

Read More: A New Chinese EV Battery Giant Has Emerged: Anjani Trivedi

Electric vehicle-related firms are drawing investor interest even amid woes about a global recession and stringent Covid-19 containment measures in China, where EVs claim a rapidly growing share of the automotive market. Tianqi Lithium’s first-half net income skyrocketed by almost 12,000% from a year earlier. It raised $1.7 billion in a Hong Kong listing in July, with shares trading near the listing price.  

Huatai International Ltd. is the sole sponsor of CALB’s Hong Kong IPO.

(Updates with cornerstone investors in second paragraph.)

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