Nissan Divests EV Battery Operations

Nissan Motor Co. has agreed to sell its battery operations—including the company’s Automotive Energy Supply Corp. (AESC) joint venture—to China’s GSR Ventures Management Co.’s GSR Capital arm.

Terms of the deal, which is expected to be completed by the end of the year, weren’t disclosed. The Financial Times values the sale at about $1 billion.

Nissan currently owns 51% of AESC, which was founded in 2007 to produce lithium-ion batteries. The sale to GSR is contingent on the carmaker first acquiring the combined 49% minority holding of NEC Corp. and its battery and electrode subsidiary, NEC Energy Devices Ltd.

In addition to AESC, the sale to GSR will include Nissan’s battery manufacturing operations in Smyrna, Tenn., and Sunderland, England. GSR also will get part of Nissan’s Japanese battery development and production engineering operations at sites in Atsugi, Oppama and Zama, Japan.

AESC will continue to be based in Japan with GSR, vowing to expand the company’s production capacity at existing sites in Japan, the U.K. and U.S. and to open new facilities in China and Europe. Nissan plans to source batteries from AESC for use in next-generation EVs.

GSR Capital is a private investment fund specializing in high growth sectors such as electric vehicles, new energy, modern agriculture, healthcare and wireless technologies.