STM, a subsidiary of South Korean battery manufacturer Samsung SDI, has bagged a deal to sell electric vehicle battery materials to Cosmo Advanced Materials & Technology.

According to industry sources, STM sold its precursor production line to Cosmo AM&T. The negotiation over the deal had been in process since last year. The size of the deal is unknown.

A lithium-ion battery is composed of four main parts: cathode, anode, electrolyte and separator. Precursors are an intermediate product in producing cathode materials. STM produced NCM precursors, named after lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese. NCM batteries are used for mid and big-sized batteries and energy storage systems.

“As STM suspended the production of precursors for lithium-ion batteries since August 2018, it decided to sell redundant facilities. The size of the deal is small,” said a Samsung SDI official.

By Kim Byung-wook (kbw@heraldcorp.com)