South Korea’s LG Energy Solution (LGES) and US automotive manufacturer General Motors [GM:US] will invest USD2.1bn to build their third joint battery plant in the US, as reported by Reuters on January 25. The two firms intend to invest equally in the new battery plant. As of now, LGES has not disclosed further information on the plant’s location or anticipated capacity.

LGES is a wholly-owned battery unit of LG Chem [051910:KS)], which supplies Tesla [TSLA:US], GM, Hyundai Motor [005380.KS], and other electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers. The company accounts for more than 20% of the global EV battery market. Before the new battery plant, LGES has been working with GM on two battery facilities in the US with a total capacity of 70 gigawatt-hour (GWh). The two battery facilities are capable of supplying 1m EVs by 2024. LGES and GM intend to invest USD2.3bn in their second US battery factory, which is expected to open in late 2023 and produce 35 GWh of batteries. In addition, the new USD2.1bn battery project was announced ahead of LGES’ scheduled IPO on January 27. LGES will price its stock between USD216.19 and USD252.36 per share to raise between USD9.2bn and USD10.8bn, potentially making it South Korea’s largest IPO.

Sources:

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/lg-energy-solution-gm-build-21-bln-battery-factory-us-2022-01-25/

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/gm-eyes-3-billion-investment-michigan-ev-plants-source-2021-12-10/

https://www.reuters.com/technology/gm-lg-energy-solution-build-2nd-us-battery-plant-tennessee-2021-04-16/

https://wallstreetcn.com/articles/3648727