BASF and Shanshan form battery materials joint venture in China

Ludwigshafen/Germany and Shanghai/China, August 31, 2021 – Following the approval of all relevant authorities, BASF and Shanshan have formed the joint venture “BASF Shanshan Battery Materials Co., Ltd.”. The new entity will be majority owned by BASF (BASF 51% and Shanshan 49%).

The newly formed company has four sites in Hunan and Ningxia, China, with more than 1,600 employees. It already has a strong position in the battery materials value chain including raw materials, precursor cathode active materials (PCAM), cathode active materials (CAM) and battery recycling.

BASF brings strong technology and development capabilities, a global operations footprint, as well as strategic partnerships for raw materials supply. Together with Shanshan’s extensive experience, comprehensive product portfolio and leading scale-up capability, the joint venture will primarily focus on the rapidly growing electric vehicle (EV) market, while continuously serving global consumer electronic and energy storage segments.

BASF and Shanshan will together drive the joint venture’s continuous growth in China with the planned annual CAM capacity of 90 kilotons by 2022.

“With this investment in China, we are ideally positioned to serve the world’s largest battery market,” said Dr. Markus Kamieth, Member of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF. “We will leverage our strong position in China to further accelerate our growth in battery materials globally.”

Yonggang Zheng, Chairman of Shanshan, added, “We are looking forward to working together with BASF to further strengthen the new joint venture. Together, BASF and Shanshan will further enhance the joint venture’s position in the EV market and provide top-tier products to customers in China and around the world.”

BASF has continued to develop its global footprint, focusing on customer proximity, enhancing its product portfolio, and securing sustainable raw materials supply. With the completion of the transaction with Shanshan, BASF has reached a significant milestone in executing its strategic roadmap to build up a global battery materials value chain, equipped with an industry-leading CAM capacity of 160 kilotons by 2022. Its global manufacturing and R&D footprint will enable BASF to provide tailor-made cathode active materials to cell manufacturers and OEM customers with efficiency, proximity and synergies in all key markets.