SK Holdings makes $83 mln new investment in Chinese copper foil maker

By Lim Chang-won Posted : July 17, 2020, 10:13 Updated : July 17, 2020, 10:13

[Gettyimages Bank]

SEOUL -- Lingbao Wason Copper Foil, a leading copper foil manufacturer in China, will receive an additional investment of 100 billion won ($83 million) from its second-largest shareholder, SK Holdings, which has tried to set up a stable supply chain for the battery-making business of South Korea's third-largest conglomerate SK Group.

As part of its focused investment in batteries and components, the holding company of SK Group became the second-largest shareholder of Wason with a strategic investment worth about 270 billion won last year. SK recognized Wason's great growth potential and said the new investment was made to preemptively invest in the growing copper foil market. Copper foil is an essential element of electric vehicle batteries.

"Watson, which has excellent technology and cost competitiveness, is building a stable portfolio of customers centered on major global battery manufacturers and is growing rapidly due to rapid productivity improvement," SK said in a statement.

The Chinese company, which posted 417.7 billion won in sales last year, has aggressively expanded its production capacity by acquiring competitors and establishing new factories, SK said, adding Watson's annual copper foil production would grow from 40,000 tons as of July this year to 140,000 tons in 2025.
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