GSR Capital (金沙江資本), a Chinese private equity firm with backing from the Hubei provincial government, is nearing a deal to acquire control of Nissan Motor Co’s rechargeable battery unit for about US$1 billion, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The firm is in advanced talks with Nissan about buying a stake in Automotive Energy Supply Corp (AESC), which makes the lithium-ion cells for the Japanese company’s Leaf electric car, the people said.
The parties aim to announce an agreement within the next two weeks, the people said.
The Hubei government-backed Yangtze River Industry Fund is contributing at least 20 percent of the GSR Capital fund doing the AESC deal, the people said.
GSR Capital sees value in building an independent battery supplier to multiple automakers and is considering moving some of AESC’s manufacturing to Hubei, the people said.
The central Chinese province — home to the nation’s second-largest automaker, Dongfeng Motor Group Co (東風汽車集團), and the Three Gorges Dam — has earmarked 547 billion yuan (US$79.8 billion) for investments in areas like clean energy to modernize its economy.
“This deal would bring huge benefits to both sides,” said Takeshi Miyao, an analyst at Tokyo-based market researcher Carnorama. “China is planning to manufacture batteries in the country as they encourage use of electric vehicles and AESC would be a perfect target as it has good battery technology.”
There is no certainty the talks will lead to a transaction and another buyer could still emerge.
Nissan said in an e-mailed statement it is committed to producing the best electric vehicle solutions, and continually evaluates its business strategy in pursuit of optimal products and business structure.
Global automakers have been seeking to make inroads into China, the world’s biggest electric-vehicle market. Beijing has required electric vehicle producers to choose from a list of approved battery vendors, all domestic makers, to receive subsidies.
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