The investment is to further improve the company's business layout, serve international customers and expand overseas business, Sunwoda said.
Sunwoda plans to build a power battery plant in Hungary, becoming the latest Chinese battery maker to do so.
Sunwoda's subsidiary Hungary Sunwoda Automotive Energy Technology Kft will build the first phase of a power battery factory for new energy vehicles (NEVs) in Hungary, according to a Shenzhen Stock Exchange announcement today.
The investment amount for the project will not exceed RMB 1.96 billion ($270 million), with Sunwoda using RMB 660 million of its own funds and RMB 1.3 billion in bank loans.
The investment is to further improve the company's business layout, serve international customers and expand overseas business, Sunwoda said.
It will help boost Sunwoda's global market share and is important for promoting the company's long-term stable development, it said.
Sunwoda was founded in 2008 and listed in April 2011 on the ChiNext stock market, China's Nasdaq-style board for growth enterprises.
The company's main business is consumer batteries, but its power battery business has grown rapidly in recent years and it has become one of China's largest power battery makers.
Sunwoda's installed base of power batteries in China was 0.73 GWh in June, putting it in sixth place with a 2.21 percent share, according to the China Automotive Battery Innovation Alliance (CABIA).
In the lithium ternary market, Sunwoda China's power batteries installed 0.35 GWh in June, ranking fifth with a 3.44 percent share.
Sunwoda's lithium iron phosphate batteries were installed at 0.38 GWh in June, ranking sixth with a 1.67 percent share.
In the global market, Sunwoda installed 3.8 GWh of power batteries in the January-May period, ranking 10th with a 1.6 percent share, according to South Korean market researcher SNE Research.
The company said earlier this month it plans to spin off its power battery unit, Sunwoda Electric Vehicle Battery Co Ltd (Sunwoda EVB), for a separate listing in Shenzhen.
Sunwoda is the latest Chinese company to announce the plan to build a battery plant in Hungary, as the country's electric vehicle chain begins to ramp up its international presence.
CATL, the world's largest maker of power batteries, announced on August 12, 2022 its plan to build a battery production base in Hungary. On September 5 last year, CATL signed a land pre-purchase agreement with the Hungarian city of Debrecen.
On June 8, Eve Energy said its board of directors had agreed that its subsidiary EVE Power Hungary Kft would build a project for large cylindrical batteries for passenger cars in Hungary, with an investment of up to RMB 9.97 billion.
On July 13, local media outlet Cailian reported that BYD (OTCMKTS: BYDDY) was hiring in Hungary, indicating that construction of its new battery assembly plant there is moving ahead.
($1 = RMB 7.1377)
Sunwoda to split EV battery unit for separate listing in Shenzhen
