Battery giant Panasonic is going to issue straight bonds worth up to 400 billion yen ($3.86 billion) in a bid to raise money to develop its business.
The Japanese company is releasing the corporate bonds in part to bring forward its investment in Tesla Motors’ ‘gigafactory’, reported newswire Reuters.
“In the near term, strategic investment (from the money raised) would be mostly in Tesla’s Gigafactory. There is a need to speed up investment,” Panasonic’s senior managing director Hideaki Kawai is reported as saying.
Back in 2014 BBB reported how Panasonic was set to invest up to ¥30 billion ($294.7m) in the ‘Gigafactory’— the US vehicle and energy storage makers $5billion battery plant in Nevada.
Panasonic is currently the sole provider of the cells used in Tesla’s electric cars, of which Tesla plan to sell 500,000 each year— however, which year that will be is open to much debate.
The official opening of the factory was held last month, despite it being only 14% complete.
Work started on the plant in 2014, and the 10 million square feet plant on the Tahoe Industrial Centre is due to be completed next year.