India’s Exide Industries devotes $17m to planned lithium-ion battery factory

Indian battery maker Exide Industries Ltd has invested INR 1.5 billion ($17.3 million) in its lithium battery arm EESL to subscribe to equity share capital on a rights basis.

That takes to INR 33 billion the amount Exide has invested in EESL, including in the subsidiary’s former guise, Exide Energy Pvt Ltd.

“EESL has allotted 41,663,892 … equity shares of INR 10 each at a premium of INR 26 per share, aggregating to INR 1,499,900,112 on [a] rights basis to Exide Industries Ltd,” said the lithium battery manufacturer. “There is no change in the shareholding percentage of the company in EESL pursuant to such an acquisition.”

EESL, incorporated in March 2022, manufactures and sells lithium-ion battery cells, modules, and packs for India’s electric vehicle market and stationary energy storage. The Exide cash injection will help EESL set up a greenfield manufacturing plant in Bengaluru.