Reliance New Energy Limited (RNEL), a wholly-owned renewable energy subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), has signed a definitive agreement to acquire all assets of the Netherlands-headquartered Lithium Werks BV for a total transaction value of $61 million (Rs 468.2 crore) including funding for future growth, the company said on Monday.
Lithium Werks is a leading provider of cobalt-free and high-performance lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. LIP batteries, in addition to being the safest lithium battery type currently available in the market, offer a longer life span, no maintenance and are lightweight among others.
“LFP is fast gaining as one of the leading cell chemistries due to its cobalt and nickel free batteries, low cost and longer life compared to NMC and other chemistries,” said Mukesh Ambani, chairman, RIL, adding that Lithium Werks is one of the leading LFP cell manufacturing companies globally and has a vast patent portfolio and a management team which brings tremendous experience of innovation across LFP value chain.
The acquisition will include the entire patent portfolio of Lithium Werks, manufacturing facility in China, key business contracts and hiring of existing employees as a going concern.
Joe Fisher, co-founder and CEO of Lithium Werks, said, “This deal means increased resources and expanded global reach, while leveraging our experienced team and IP portfolio and providing scale and momentum to help drive our product innovation, capacity expansion and accelerate our clean energy strategy.”
RNEL, which last December signed a definitive agreement to pick up a 100% stake in UK-based global battery technology company Faradion Ltd for £100 million, sees Lithium Werks along with Faradion strengthening its technology portfolio and providing it access to one of the world’s leading portfolio of LFP patents.
Faradion’s patent technology is sustainable as it does not use cobalt, lithium, copper or graphite, while sodium is the sixth most available element in the world.
“Along with Faradion, Lithium Werks will enable us to accelerate our vision of establishing India at the core of developments in global battery chemistries and help us provide a secure, safe and high-performance supply chain to the large and growing Indian EV and energy storage markets,” said Ambani, adding that RNEL is progressing towards establishing an end-to-end battery manufacturing and supply ecosystem for India markets.
The transaction is subject to certain regulatory and other customary closing conditions and is expected to complete by June 2022.
