(Reuters) – South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution will pay 35 billion won ($30 million) for a 4.8% stake in China’s Greatpower Nickel and Cobalt Materials Co and has secured six years of nickel supply from the company, it said on Friday.
The investment 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 starting in 2023.
That would be enough for 370,000 EVs, it said.
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.
($1 = 1,175.7000 won)
(Reporting by Tom Daly and Heekyong Yang; Editing by David Clarke)
