By Martin Mou

BYD Co. is planning to raise 29.80 billion Hong Kong dollars (US$3.84 billion) in net proceeds from a share placement, eyeing a further expansion in the growing market for electric vehicles.

The company will place 133 million new H-shares--or 15% of all H-Shares--to investors, BYD said. The new shares would account for 4.88% of the total share capital of BYD, which is also listed in Shenzhen.

The car maker has set the placing price at HK$225.0, representing a 7.8% discount to its H-shares' closing price on Wednesday.

BYD, which also manufactures fossil-fueled cars, said it will emphasize planning the new-energy automobile business and ramping up its power batteries production capacity.

The company will use the net proceeds to supplement working capital, repay debt and invest in research and development.

UBS, Goldman Sachs and CICC are acting as joint coordinators for the share offering, which was announced last year.

BYD has been one of the best-performing Chinese EV makers in the stock market since 2020 in part because of its battery business. BYD H-shares, or shares listed in Hong Kong, have risen five-fold over the past year.

Write to Martin Mou at martin.mou@wsj.com

Corrections & Amplifications

This item was corrected at 0142 GMT to reflect that BYD will place 133 million new H-Shares -- or 15% of all H-Shares -- to investors. The original item incorrectly said BYD plans to place 915 million new H-Shares in the second paragraph.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-20-21 1928ET