Samsung SDI Leads Rally in Battery Stocks After Divestment Plan

By Kwanwoo Jun

Samsung SDI's shares rallied after its divestment plan to focus on its battery and other core businesses, leading gains in South Korean battery-related stocks.

Shares of Samsung Group's battery affiliate, which is in a joint-venture partnership with General Motors in the U.S., rose 9.9% on Wednesday. The benchmark Kospi index fell 0.4%.

Most other battery stocks also advanced in South Korea, with electric-vehicle battery maker LG Energy Solution climbing 5.1% and battery-material supplier Posco Future M advancing 8.9%.

Samsung SDI earlier said it will sell its polarizer film business to China's Wuxi Hengxin Optoelectronic Materials for 1.12 trillion won, equivalent to $833 million, to focus on its core businesses.

The planned divestiture is aimed at securing more funds to invest in developing next-generation materials for batteries, semiconductors and organic light-emitting diodes, Samsung SDI said in a regulatory filing Tuesday.

GM and Samsung SDI in August agreed to build a $3.5 billion battery-making joint venture in New Carlisle, Ind., by 2027 despite a recent slowdown in EV demand.

Samsung SDI has been seeking to develop next-generation battery products such as all-solid-state batteries.

Earlier this year, Samsung SDI's chief executive, Choi Yoon-ho, said his company plans to mass produce the all-solid-state batteries starting in 2027.

The new batteries, unlike conventional ones with liquid-type electrolytes, use solid electrolytes to make them safer, longer-lasting and faster to recharge, Samsung SDI said.

Write to Kwanwoo Jun at kwanwoo.jun@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 11, 2024 03:57 ET (07:57 GMT)

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