Having committed over US$700 million (RM2.9 billion) into Malaysia in 2021, South Korean energy and chemical company SK Group – more familiar to the public through its SK Innovations battery division – is looking at increasing its investment in the country. The group currently has investments in various sectors, including electric vehicles (EV) and digitalisation.
The group’s first investment in Malaysia began in January last year when SK Nexilis, part of the group’s EV value chain, announced a capital expenditure of RM2.3 billion to set up a copper foil manufacturing facility in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
Construction of the facility – which will have an annual production capacity of 50,000 tonnes – began in the first half of 2021, and commercial operations are expected to begin by 2023. The new facility will increase SK Nexilis’ copper foil production capacity by three times its current global capacity, to about 100,000 tonnes.
Additionally, the group’s subsidiary, ride-sharing and mobility provider Socar Malaysia, has raised more than US$55 million (RM230.7 million) in a Series A round of investment from private equity firm EastBridge Partners and Malaysian conglomerate Sime Darby to fuel its expansion and build up its EV operations in Malaysia, with plans to deploy hundreds of EVs in the next five years.
In October last year, Socar and Tenaga Nasional (TNB) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to set up 50 EV charging zones in the country by the end of 2022. Last August, SK Group made a strategic investment of up to US$100 million (RM419.5 million) into BigPay, a leading regional fintech company based in Malaysia, the first step for the group in entering the fast-growing fintech sector outside Korea.
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Syukurrr more investments berlimpah masuk Msia. #BetterNation