GPSC’s board of directors gave the green light to the set-up of a subsidiary company to invest in Anhui Axxiva New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. in China, holding 11.1 % equity interest with the investment amount of approximately 500 million baht, for the construction of a battery manufacturing plant with a production capacity of 1 gigawatt-hour per year using 24M’s technology, serving the electric vehicle trend and enhance the company’s New S-Curve business expansion.
Mr. Worawat Pitayasiri, President and Chief Executive Officer of Global Power Synergy Public Company Limited or GPSC, the innovative power flagship of PTT Group, revealed that according to the Board of Directors’ Meeting No.1/2021 held on 20 January 2021, a resolution was passed to approve the set-up of a subsidiary company to invest in Anhui Axxiva New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (“AXXIVA”), a Chinese battery manufacturer using technology license of 24M Technologies Inc. (“24M”). The total investment is approximately 500 million baht, accounting for around 11.1 percent of AXXIVA’s total equity interest.
“This investment aligns with the GPSC’s growth strategy on expansion of investment in innovation and technology to create and generate revenue from New S-Curve businesses corresponding to the fast-moving environment of energy and electricity generation sectors and enables to seek business opportunities with overseas partners, especially in China, where the electric vehicle industry has been growing continuously as the development of an environmentally-friendly transportation system is of great importance there. With this investment, GPSC is able to capture further business collaboration in many areas, including technical knowledge and experience sharing for commercial giga-scale production, co-procurement in electrode active materials and other raw materials and others. This will enhance competitiveness of GPSC’s battery manufacturing business rapidly,” said Mr. Worawat.
The purpose of AXXIVA’s fundraising this time is for the construction of a Phase-1 Semi-solid battery manufacturing plant with a production capacity of 1 gigawatt-hours (GWh) per year in China, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2021 and start of commercial production by early 2022 for supply to their strategic customers in the electric vehicle industry in China such as Chery New Energy Automobile with much confidence in performance and safety of AXXIVA’s Semi-Solid battery. AXXIVA also plans to expand its production capacity to serve the demand of electric vehicle industry in the future.
On February 8, 2021, the company has signed the capital increase agreement with AXXIVA and been in the process of establishing a subsidiary to invest in AXXIVA. The capital increase transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2021.
In addition, the company’s energy storage unit production plant in Thailand, which is located in the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate, Rayong Province, is going according to plan, continues to make progress and is expected to be able to start regular production by the second quarter of 2021. Moreover, G-Cell, the first made-in-Thailand semi-solid battery cells, was already launched at the end of 2020.