Bulgarian lead-acid battery manufacturer Monbat is set to buy a majority stake in Tunisian lead-acid batteries business Assad.
Sofia-based Monbat said in an announcement to the Bulgarian Stock Exchange it had signed a letter of intent with Assad’s main shareholders but gave no other details.
Monbat said the deal “is not finalised” and such a decision would be taken after the completion of due diligence – which is expected by the end of November.
The announcement comes hot on the heels of Monbat’s move into the lithium-ion business with the acquisition of German peers Gaia Akkumulatorenwerke and EAS Germany. Monbat said in June the companies were being merged into the EAS Batteries business in Nordhausen, northeast Germany.
Assad, founded in 1974, employs more than 740 across two production sites. The company said it designs, manufacturers, distributes and recycles lead-acid batteries for applications including automotive, marine, solar, industry and telecoms.
Assad has a combined annual production capacity of 1.2 million batteries. The firm’s recycling arm was launched in 2002 to recycle around 10,000 tons of used batteries from the Tunisian market each year.
Monbat was founded in 1959, privatised in 1998 and is now a leading European battery producer. The company has production and recycling plants in three countries and exports to more than 60 countries.
