SHARES of JL Mag Rare Earth Co., a producer of rare earth permanent magnets, dropped in their Hong Kong trading debut after being sold at the bottom of the marketed range.

The producer of magnetic rare earth materials slid to as low as HK$28 (US$4.83) Friday. That’s versus an offer price of HK$33.80 apiece in the sale that raised HK$4.24 billion. Shares closed down 16.57 percent at HK$28.20 Friday.

The company has already been listed in Shenzhen since 2018 and its A shares dropped 1.41 percent to close at 37.68 yuan (US$5.93) Friday.

Profit for the six months ending June 2021 was 220.6 million yuan, a 141 percent jump from a year earlier.

Chairman Cai Baogui expects new energy vehicles (NEVs) to account for most of the firm’s sales over the next few years.

“New energy vehicles is our focus market area now,” Cai said Jan. 3. “The company’s fastest growing field in the next three years will be NEVs.”

The Tesla supplier secured big orders from BYD Co., SAIC Motor, BAIC Motor, NIO, Li Auto and Xpeng last year, Cai said.

The company supplied carmakers enough magnetic material to produce 800,000 NEVs in the first nine months of last year, up from 450,000 cars in 2019.

JL Mag was the world’s top producer of rare earth permanent magnetic materials in 2020, with a market share of around 14.5 percent, according to Frost & Sullivan. (SD-Agencies)