SK Innovation Co.’s battery unit will raise as much as $944 million from financial investors in a bid to more than double its global production capacity by the middle of the decade.
SK On Co. secured up to $800 million from a consortium led by MBK Partners Ltd., and another $144 million from Saudi Arabia’s SNB Capital Co., SK Innovation said in a statement on Wednesday. The South Korean company has been seeking long-term financial investors to ensure continued growth of its battery business, it said.
The electric-vehicle battery manufacturer, which has plants in the US, South Korea, China and Hungary, aims to increase its worldwide production capacity to at least 220 gigawatt-hour by 2025, from 88-gigawatt hour at the end of last year, it said.
Separately, SK On will also borrow 2 trillion won ($1.5 billion) from its customers Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp., it said. That comes after Hyundai and SK On announced a plan in April to jointly spend as much as $5 billion on an EV battery plant in Georgia in the US.
