Electronics maker Panasonic has agreed to sell its lead-acid battery business for $250 million to battery manufacturer GS Yuasa Corp.
Panasonic has announced plans to concentrate its business on lithium-ion batteries, particularly in the automotive sector.
While the sale might signal another general shift towards the newer battery chemistry, it marks the latest in a series of lead-acid expansions by Kyoto-based GS Yuasa, which said it was boosting its lead-acid battery output by 2.3 million units to 30 million in Indonesia by 2016 with an expansion of its Kawarang plant near Jakarta, and adding an extra assembly line at its lead-acid battery factory in Tangerang.
In Ranjangaon, India, GS Yuasa spent $1.6 million on a plant it said would initially produce 1.2 million units a year, which would double following an the addition of a second assembly line in 2016.
Also this year, GY Yuasa bought 50% of Turkish lead-acid battery manufacturer Inci Aku Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim, which it said would become one of its ‘key centres’ in its global strategy.
