South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution will pay $30 million for a 4.8% stake in China’s Greatpower Nickel and Cobalt Materials Co, it announced on Friday.
The investment – which also sees the firm secure six years of nickel supply from the company – deepens LG’s presence in the world’s biggest electric vehicle (EV) market.
LG Energy Solution, a subsidiary of LG Chem that counts automakers Tesla and General Motors as customers, said in a statement it had secured a total of 20,000 tonnes of the battery ingredient nickel from Shanghai-based Greatpower over six years beginning in 2023. That would be enough for 370,000 EVs, it said.
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LG Chem already has a battery material production venture in China alongside Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt.
In its own statement, Greatpower said the tie-up would “ensure stable supply of key raw materials required for the production of electric vehicle batteries.”
LG Energy Solution and Hyundai Motor this week started construction on a $1.1 billion plant to make EV batteries in Indonesia.
- Reuters and Sean O’Meara
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