Chinese property developer Evergrande is increasing its stake in battery manufacturer Shanghai Cenat New Energy to 79.8pc as it continues to expand into the new energy vehicle (NEV) sector.
The company's subsidiary Evergrande Health subsidiary will pay 178mn yuan ($25.8mn) to acquire a 9.6pc stake in Cenat from Shenzhen Bangya Electronics. Evergrande purchased a 12.2pc stake of Cenat from China Automotive for Yn227mn on 2 July, after it bought a [58pc share][(https://metals.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/1834682) from Shenzhen Clou Electronics in January.
Evergrande is expanding rapidly in the NEV sector and the whole industry chain. Evergrande and Germany's automotive power train producer Hofer earlier this month announced a joint venture in Germany to develop NEV power trains. It invested Yn120bn in June to build three manufacturing plants for NEVs, wheel-hub motors and power batteries in Shenyang city in northeast China's Liaoning province.
Cenat is a producer of lithium-ion ternary pouch type power batteries in China. It was co-founded by the China Automotive Technology and Research Centre, an institution managed by the state-owned assets supervision and administration commission under China's highest authority the state council and Japanese battery company Enax.
The company has four major production bases in Shanghai, Jiangxi, Guangxi and Jiangsu provinces. It was one of the 10 biggest Chinese companies in terms of battery capacity and one of the three biggest for pouch type power battery capacity in 2018.
China is forecast to produce and sell 1.5mn NEVs this year, according to the country's ministry of industry and information technology. The Chinese government earlier this month issued a draft plan to increase its NEV credit scheme to 14pc in 2021, 16pc in 2022 and 18pc in 2023, up from 10pc this year.
The country produced 614,000 NEVs during January-June, up by 48.5pc from a year earlier, while sales rose by 49.6pc to 617,000 units.
