At the end of Aug., 2016, GEM Co., Ltd.
(GEM, stock code: 002340) announced to with South Korean ECOPRO Co., Ltd.
(ECOPRO), invest USD137.17 million (KRW150 billion, USD/KRW exchange rate @
1093.51 on 7 Sept., 2016, sourced on hexun.com) in constructing a Li-ion
battery raw materials plant in Pohang, South Korea.
Source: Baidu
ECOPRO is mainly producing power battery materials, such as lithium nickel
cobalt aluminate (NCA) and lithium nickel cobalt manganate (NCM). Now it is the
2nd largest NCA cathode material supplier in the world, and is the only
external NCA cathode material supplier to Samsung SDI Co., Ltd. (Samsung SDI).
"The business activity this time enables us to make full use of international
technologies and resources, and to directly step into South Korean and even
international markets,' stated Ouyang Mingzhi, GEM's board secretary.
In reality, early in Dec. 2015, GEM ever signed an agreement with ECOPRO about
NCA cathode material of vehicle purpose Li-ion battery. From this, the latter
agreed to entrust Samsung SDI's Li-ion battery precursor project to the former.
This signalled that GEM indirectly penetrated into Samsung SDI's power battery
supply chain.
The construction of plant in South Korea will combine GEM more tightly with
ECOPRO, from a simple supply-demand relation to a strategic partnership. "It is
just a primary agreement. The details including production capacity, production
timetable and shareholding, are still under negotiation,' continued Ouyang
Mingzhi.
In the craze for investment into Li-ion
battery business, listed Li-ion battery companies are shifting their focuses
from home market only to overseas market, in a move to develop a broader
platform and tap out of huger market potential.
According to statistics, in 2016, listed companies including Wu Lead
Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd. (stock code: 300450), Shenzhen Selen Science
& Technology Co., Ltd. (Selen, stock code: 002341), Shenzhen Yinghe
Technology Co., Ltd. (Yinghe Technology, stock code: 300457), Ningbo Shanshan
Co., Ltd. (stock code: 600884), and Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium Co., Ltd. (Ganfeng
Lithium, stock code: 002460) have vigorously carried out foreign M&A or set
up plants overseas. Based on different positionings, they had varied
intentions, say to have a say about raw material pricing, to extend product
line, to enhance technology innovation capability, or to expand overseas
market.
Here come some instances:
1. Yinghe Technology established joint venture in Japan
On 26 April, Yinghe Technology noted a plan to build a joint venture (JV) with
a Japanese, Tsushima Yosuke and his team, namely YHJ R&D Co., Ltd. (YHJ
R&D), registered capital at USD98,610 (JPY10 million, USD/JPY exchange rate
@ 101.41 on 7 Sept., 2016, sourced on hexun.com).
Specifically, Yinghe Technology will invest USD78,888 (JPY8 million) by cash,
80% of the total, and Tsushima Yosuke and his team will subscribe the rest 20%
with USD19,722 (JPY2 million), also by cash.
The JV is aimed at conducting R&D of and selling Li-ion battery production
equipment, and doing import & export business.
2. Ganfeng Lithium acquired 43.1% of shares in RIM
On 7 July, Ganfeng Lithium announced to acquire 18.1% of shares in Reed
Industrial Minerals Pty Ltd. (RIM) via its fully-owned subsidiary, GFL
International Co., Limited in Hong Kong. Prior to this, in Sept. 2015, the
company spent USD25 million acquiring certain stake in Neometals Ltd. and
increasing capital in RIM, so as to obtain a 25% stake in the target company.
Following acquisition this time, Ganfeng Lithium will in total hold 43.1% of
shares.
RIM, founded on 11 Aug., 2009, is a western Australian mining and exploring
company. It takes 100% of the spodumene produced from the Mt Marion Lithium
Project. Having been licensed for the start-up of the project, it is
constructing a 200,000 t/a lithium concentrate (Li2O 6%) production facility.
3. Selen acquired T&T Enertechno
On 12 July, Selen acquired T&T Enertechno Co., Ltd. (T&T Enertechno),
at USD93.68 million (JPY9.50 billion). Of this, USD19.44 million (JPY1.98
billion) was for 100% of shares, and USD74.16 million (JPY7.53 billion) for its
all patented technologies targeted at the aluminium-plastic soft packaging
business.
T&T Enertechno, as a JV established by Toppan Printing Co. Ltd. and Toyo
Seikan Group Holdings Ltd., is mainly involved in manufacturing and selling
varied Li-ion battery packaging materials.
This article comes from China Li-ion Battery E-News 1609, CCM
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Tag: Li-ion battery