Nissan Motor said recently that it will sell its controlling stake in the battery business to China Vision Group. Vision Group will control Automotive Energy Supply Corporation (hereinafter referred to as "AESC"), Nissan's electric battery business and production base. Vision will also acquire the entire equity of NEC Energy Devices, Ltd., a battery electrode manufacturing business owned by Japan Electric.
After the completion of the acquisition, Nissan will own a 20% stake in the new company and cooperate with the vision to promote the development of battery energy storage technology and the energy Internet of Things.
The two parties did not disclose the transaction price. Nissan expects the transaction to be completed by March 29, 2019.
Vision said that since its launch in 2010, AESC's lithium-ion batteries have powered 340,000 Nissan Leaf electric vehicles, which have driven more than 7 billion kilometers in total, without a serious accident.
Vision plans to upgrade AESC's existing production scale in Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States to ensure the production of batteries with high energy density and longer life cycles. In addition, in order to better meet the rapidly growing market demand for electric vehicle batteries and stationary lithium-ion batteries in China, Vision also plans to set up a factory in Wuxi, China.
Vision is an energy IoT company that has built the Energy IoT operating system EnOS, which connects and collaborates with 50 million wind power, photovoltaic, energy storage, charging piles, electric vehicles, and building intelligent terminals worldwide. Vision is also a leading smart wind power enterprise.
Nissan had previously planned to sell its battery business to Chinese investment agency GSR Capital, but Nissan cancelled the deal due to lack of acquisition funding. Foreign media have reported that people familiar with the matter said that Jinshajiang Capital had previously agreed to pay a total of $ 1 billion for the transaction.