SKC

• Signed
  an agreement on ‘Industrial and Financial Cooperation Program to Foster
  Rechargeable Batteries and Eco-Friendly Materials’ and secured stable
  investment resources

• To
  continue efforts to secure optimal growth sources such as maintaining financial
  stability in accordance with the September Financial Story guidelines

   

SKC (CEO Lee
Wan-jae) is raising 1.5 trillion won from Korea Development Bank (Chairman &
CEO Lee Dong-gull) to develop rechargeable batteries and eco-friendly
materials. SKC, which has secured stable investment resources through this
agreement, plans to continue adding growth resources in an optimal form
according to the guidelines in the Financial Story.

On the afternoon
of the 24th, SKC and Korea Development Bank (KDB) signed the “Agreement on the
Industrial and Financial Cooperation Program to Foster the Rechargeable Battery
and Eco-friendly Materials Industry” at the SK nexilis Jeongeup plant in
Jeongeup-si, Jeollabuk-do, Korea. In accordance with the agreement, KDB will
provide SKC with mid- to long-term financial support worth 1.5 trillion won in
relation to the company’s research, development, and investment in rechargeable
batteries and eco-friendly materials over the next five years.

The signing
ceremony was attended by key executives of SKC and Korea Development Bank,
including SKC President Lee Wan-jae and Korea Development Bank Chairman &
CEO Lee Dong-gull. Since 2019, KDB has been conducting an industrial/financial
cooperation program to help representative companies in each core industry,
through mid-to-long-term financial cooperation, to reorganize
themselves into future-oriented high-tech corporations while strengthening
their industrial competitiveness. The bank has so far concluded a total of five
industrial and financial cooperation agreements including
an agreement with SK hynix.

Through financial
cooperation with KDB, SKC has secured growth resources necessary for business
model innovation centered on mobility and eco-friendly materials. Unveiling its
future growth strategy ‘Financial Story’ at ‘SKC Investor Day’ in September,
SKC announced that it needed about 5 trillion won in growth resources over the
next five years. SKC made it clear that to that end, it would actively utilize
strategic financing such as policy finance and business joint ventures on top
of its own internal cash generation efforts to maintain its financial stability.

SKC plans to spur
global investment in rechargeable batteries and eco-friendly materials based on
the large-scale growth investment resources secured through the financial
cooperation agreement. SKC is planning
to increase its annual production capacity to 250,000 tons and emerge as the
world’s largest copper foil producer by investing in the additional production
of 100,000 tons by 2025 on top of its recently decided investment in Stalowa Wola,
Poland to produce 50,000 tons of copper foil used for rechargeable batteries a
year.

For the Malaysian
copper foil investment whose construction kicked off in July, SKC has already
secured about 85% of the total required amount. In addition, SKC is actively
promoting the business of silicon anode materials for rechargeable batteries, high-performance
low-power semiconductor glass substrates, and eco-friendly biodegradable
materials, through various forms of partnership with other companies including
joint ventures. By adding financial cooperation with KDB, SKC plans to further
accelerate the realization of its Financial Story.

"Amid the
intensifying global competition, mutual cooperation with state-run financial
institutions has enabled us to make timely and stable investments," An SKC
official said. “We will shift our business to high value-added materials by
expanding the production of rechargeable batteries and eco-friendly materials
and boosting our technological prowess, and will contribute to Korea’s carbon
neutrality by achieving the goal of ‘Net Zero GHG Emissions by 2040’.”

"This investment
agreement with KDB has great significance in that it has clarified to a large
extent SKC's plan to raise funds for business growth," An SKC official
also said. “SKC will continue to pursue various measures to secure necessary
funds for growth while maintaining financial stability as stated in the
Financial Story.”

[On the afternoon
of the 24th, SKC and Korea Development Bank signed an agreement on the “Industrial
and Financial Cooperation Program to Foster the Rechargeable Battery and
Eco-Friendly Materials Industry’ at the SK nexilis Jeongeup plant in
Jeongeup-si, Jeollabuk-do. SKC CEO Lee Wan-jae (left) and KDB Chairman &
CEO Lee Dong-gull (right) are posing after signing the agreement.]