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Lotte Chemical reportedly placed its bid to buy a controlling stake in Iljin Materials Co. Ltd, an electric foil manufacturing company. The chemicals firm headquartered in Songpa-gu, Seoul, was said to have submitted its offer late last week.
Lotte Chemical is now considered one of the potential buyers of a 53.3% stake in Iljin Materials, which is worth KRW3 trillion or about $2.24 billion. The huge stake percentage that is up for sale
Understood to be owned by the company’s president and chief executive officer, Huh Jae Myung. The deal has been assigned to be managed by Citigroup Global Markets Korea Securities, as per The Korea Herald.
Iljin Materials has been supplying copper foil products to various battery cell producers in South Korea, and some of its major customers include Samsung SDI and LG Energy Solution. For the first half of this year, the company Iljin reported operating earnings of KRW46.8 billion. This figure is said to have increased by 33.5% compared to the profits of the same period from the previous year.
In May, Iljin Materials revealed that its largest shareholder is considering the sale of his stake, and the plan is being reviewed. Now, it seems that the selloff has already been decided as companies are already submitting proposal bids.
Lotte Chemical is the petrochemical arm of the Lotte Group, and with the potential acquisition of Iljin Materials, it is looking to become the second biggest copper foil maker in the country. It was noted that the current leading producer in South Korea is SK nexilis.
In any case, Iljin Materials has been producing around 15% of the total copper foil in the world. Currently, it has an annual production capacity of 40,000 tons.
Lotte Group’s submission of a bid for the acquisition is not surprising because it has been expanding its business in the electric vehicle battery components field. In fact, Lotte Chemical divulged its plans to invest around KRW4 trillion in the battery components biz by the year 2030. It is aiming to generate KRW5 trillion in annual profits starting in 2030.
