SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s LG Chem, an electric car battery supplier for Tesla Inc and GM, said on Thursday it plans to separate its battery business as a new company in December.
The new company, to be wholly owned by LG Chem, seeks to “strengthen the expertise and market dominance” by focusing on the battery business, it said.
LG Chem posted an operating profit in its car battery business in the latest quarter and expected further profitability thanks to demand from European car makers and more battery sales of cylindrical batteries used in Tesla cars.
It said it will consider a stock market listing of the battery unit, without elaborating further.
Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Tom Hogue and Muralikumar Anantharaman