Aju Business Daily

SEOUL -- Lotte Fine Chemical, a chemical unit of South Korea's Lotte Group, disclosed an investment of 290 billion won ($249 million) in a private equity fund which has been established for the acquisition of Doosan Solus that produces copper foils or electric vehicles, related products and electronic materials.

Lotte Fine Chemical said the investment, made public in a regulatory filing on September 23, was in line with a business strategy to expand its specialty business. The parent group has shown keen interest in the production of EV batteries and related materials.

As part of its group-wide restructuring to ease financial woes, Doosan Group concluded a deal in July sell Doosan Solus to Skylake Investment, a private equity fund. The sale price was estimated at 700 billion won.

Doosan Solus has developed high-end, efficient battery foil products since it acquired Circuit Foil based in Luxembourg in 2014. In May this year, the South Korean company secured an incentive including financial support and tax benefits from the Hungarian government to boost the production of thin copper foils in the Tatabanya industrial complex.