Selling Off Shares
It has been found that 30% of Samsung Tianjin Battery shares have been put up for sale. In the joint venture for the management of Samsung SDI’s battery manufacturing plant located in Tianjin, Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area State-owned Assets Management Company and Tianjin Zhonghuan Electronic and Information Group have 20% and 30% shares, respectively. The former is planning to sell all of its shares and the latter is going to sell one-third of its shares.
The two Chinese companies, which have worked with Samsung SDI since the establishment of Samsung Tianjin Battery in 2015, did not explain the reason for the sale of the shares. Chinese media reported it is because of Samsung Tianjin Battery’s poor performance that followed the Chinese government’s decision not to subsidize electric vehicles using batteries supplied by South Korean companies.
Samsung SDI has a different view. According to Samsung SDI, the plant in Tianjin has little to do with the THAAD issue and the subsidy because it supplies small batteries used in electric tools, smartphones, electric bicycles, and so on and Chinese news outlets focused on the Chinese companies’ high debt ratios without taking initial capital expenditures into account.
Those in the industry are paying much attention to whether Samsung SDI will acquire the shares. In June this year, the Chinese government raised the upper limit of foreign companies’ shareholding in joint ventures for the manufacturing of electric vehicle batteries from 50% to 100%.