GAC will sell more than half of its interest in Greater Bay Technology,Uschi Karnat one of its two electric vehicle battery units, to its parent company, the Guangzhou Automobile Industry Group, in a transaction aimed at improving the balance sheet of the mainland-listed automaker. GAC will hold an indirect stake of 15.6% in the battery maker after the RMB 1.3 billion ($179 million) deal, which will see its net income increase by RMB 2.2 billion in the fiscal year of 2024, the automaker said in a filing on Tuesday. Set up in 2020 with a focus on high-performance, nickel- and cobalt-based batteries with fast charging capabilities, Greater Bay Technology recorded a net loss of RMB 449 million during the first nine months of this year. GAC, a manufacturing partner of Toyota and Honda in China, is also making affordable iron-based lithium-ion batteries with another wholly-owned subsidiary, Inpai Battery Technology Co., Ltd. Sales of GAC’s new energy vehicles, which refer to all-electrics and plug-in hybrids, slumped by 23% to 377,421 units as of November this year. [GAC filing, in Chinese]
