Exide Industries Limited, an Indian battery manufacturer, said that it invested ₹331.7 million (~$4.49 million) in its subsidiary Exide Leclanche Energy Private Limited by way of subscription of the subsidiary’s equity shares.

The company has increased its stake in the subsidiary from 77.87% to 80.15% and acquired 13.26 million equity shares of ₹10 (~$ 0.14) at a premium of ₹15 (~$ 0.20) each with this new investment. The equity shares were allotted to the company on November 23, 2020.

In June 2018, Exide Industries Limited and Leclanche, a global energy storage solutions provider, formed a joint venture (JV) to build lithium-ion (Li-Ion) batteries and provide energy storage systems for India’s electric vehicle (EV) market and grid-based applications.

The JV was to focus on e-transport, stationary energy storage systems, and specialty storage markets. In e-transport, the target segment is fleet vehicles, including e-buses, e-wheelers, and e-rickshaws. As part of the JV, Leclanche is to provide its know-how and intellectual property for Li-ion cells, modules, and battery management systems, and Exide Industries would leverage its sales network and brand.

In its regulatory filing, the battery manufacturer mentioned that the investment had been made to satisfy the funding requirement, specifically the capital expenditure projects of the joint venture.

According to Mercom’s 9M and Q3 2020 Funding and M&A Report for Battery Storage, Smart Grid, and Efficiency, the global venture capital funding for battery storage companies in the third quarter of 2020 was up 78%, with $661 million raised through seven deals compared to $372 million in eight deals in the previous quarter. The report stated that lithium battery manufacturers received the largest amount of funding in Q3 2020. However, in the first nine months (9M) of 2020, the funding was 25% lower, with $1.2 billion in 21 deals compared to $1.6 billion in 25 deals in 9M 2020.

Last year, Exide Industries Limited entered into three share subscription and shareholders agreements with renewable energy developer Cleantech Solar to install captive solar projects at its factories.

Mercom earlier reported that Exide Industries would invest up to 30% of its total equity share capital in three special purpose vehicles to set up captive solar power projects for its manufacturing facilities.