RIL’s wholly-owned unit Reliance New Energy Solar Ltd (RNESL) will acquire UK-based solar batter company Faradion Ltd for GBP 100 million, it said on Friday. Reliance has signed definitive agreements to acquire 100% shareholding in Faradion. In addition, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance will also invest GBP 25 million as growth capital to accelerate commercial roll out, the company said in a release on Friday. Faradion is one of the leading global battery technology companies based out of Sheffield and Oxford in UK. The company has a competitively superior, strategic, wide-reaching and extensive IP portfolio covering several aspects of sodium-ion technology, according to the release. RNESL has entered into an agreement with Faradion Limited (Faradion) and its shareholders for acquiring 100% of the equity shares of Faradion through secondary transactions for a total value of GBP 94.42 Mn based on an enterprise value of GBP 100Mn.The RIL arm will acquire 88.92% of the equity shares of Faradion for an aggregate consideration of GBP 83.97Mn at closing which is expected in early January 2022, and 11.08% of the equity shares of Faradion within 3 years from closing for an aggregate consideration of up to GBP 10.45Mn, the regulatory filing stated.
Speaking about the acquisition, RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani said, “We welcome Faradion and its experienced team to Reliance family. This will further strengthen and build upon our ambition to create one of the most advanced and integrated New Energy ecosystem and put India at the forefront of leading battery technologies. The sodium-ion technology developed by Faradion provides a globally leading energy storage and battery solution which is safe, sustainable, provides high energy density and is significantly cost competitive. In addition, it has wide use applications from mobility to grid scale storage and back-up power.”Faradion CEO James Quinn also commented, “Faradion has been one of the first to champion sodium-ion battery technology. Reliance is the perfect partner for supporting Faradion’s growth in the rapidly expanding Indian market and to jointly speed up the transformation of the global energy market. Becoming part of the Reliance group validates the incredible work our team has done in advancing sodium-ion technology. Together with Reliance, Faradion can bring British innovation to India and globally, as the world increasingly looks beyond lithium. We look forward to being part of India’s Net Zero mission.” Shares of Reliance Industries Limited closed 1.94% down on Thursday at Rs. 2356.45. A total of 3.95 lakh shares were traded during the day in over 25,736 trades. The stock hit an intraday high of Rs 2405.25 and intraday low of 2346.00 yesterday.