SK Innovation shareholders approve the proposed battery business split

SEOUL, Sept. 16 (Reuters) – SK Innovation Co Ltd (096770.KS) announced Thursday that its shareholders have approved the company’s proposal to separate its battery business into a new company.

The move paves the way for the battery industry, a supplier to Ford Motor Co (FN), Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) and among others, to potentially raise funds and go public to finance its expansion of production capacity at high cost.

The unit, which will be launched on October 1, will first become the wholly owned subsidiary of SK Innovation, tentatively named “SK Battery Co Ltd.

More than 80% of SK Innovation shareholders voted in favor of the plan, SK Innovation said in a statement.

South Korea’s National Pension Service, SK Innovation’s No.2 shareholder with an 8.05% stake, voted against the split plan on Tuesday, citing concerns about damage to shareholder value.

SK Innovation shares were trading down 1.4% against a 0.5% drop in the benchmark KOSPI (.KS11) at 0131 GMT.

Reporting by Heekyong Yang and Joyce Lee; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Stephen Coates

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