March NEV sales surge: association SALES of new energy vehicles (NEVs) in China surged in March, helping the country’s automotive market to accelerate its green transition, data from an industry association showed yesterday. Last month, the retail sales of NEVs in China expanded 137.6% year on year to 445,000 units, according to the China Passenger Car Association. China’s auto sales in March slid 11.7% year on year to 2.23 million units, data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed yesterday. New bank loans jump NEW yuan loans issued by Chinese banks came in much higher than expected in March, providing a boost to the economy. Chinese lenders extended 3.13 trillion yuan (US$491.4 billion) of new yuan loans in March, up significantly from February’s 1.23 trillion yuan, according to the People’s Bank of China yesterday. CATL enacts ‘production bubble’ to ensure supply CONTEMPORARY Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL), the world’s biggest maker of electric vehicle batteries, has implemented a so-called “closed-loop management,” which is akin to a bubble-like arrangement, for workers at its main factory in Fujian in a bid to avoid COVID shutdowns. Workers will be shuttled between their dormitories and the factory in Ningde, where a COVID flare-up has prompted the local government to tighten prevention and control measures, the company said Sunday. “To ensure market supply to the best of our capabilities, we have adopted strict grid management measures for the orderly operation of the Ningde production base,” the company said. CNOOC to raise at least $4.4B in Shanghai listing ONE of China’s biggest oil companies, CNOOC Ltd., plans to raise US$4.41 billion from a Shanghai listing, after its shares were delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. The company is selling a total of 2.6 billion shares for 10.80 yuan a share, it said yesterday. Zhihu starts HK dual primary listing ZHIHU Inc., a question-and-answer website, opened its bookbuilding process yesterday to raise US$133 million in a dual primary listing in Hong Kong, according to its regulatory filings. Zhihu, which listed in New York in March last year, is selling 26 million existing shares in the Hong Kong deal, which will be finalized Thursday, the filings showed. | 