Bank Pekao with IFC to finance expansion of e-car battery separator factory

Bank Pekao and International Finance Corporation (IFC), together with other financial institutions, will provide SK Hi-Tech Battery Materials Poland with financing for the expansion of a factory producing separators for batteries in electric cars, the bank said.

The investment loan of $30 million, as part of the financing arranged by IFC for a total of $300 million, will be used to finance the 3rd and 4th phases of the construction of Europe's largest plant producing separators for lithium-ion batteries. The production facility is being built in Dabrowa Gornicza. SK Hi-Tech Battery Materials Poland Sp. z o.o. is the first separator manufacturer in Europe. The company specializes in the production of wet separators of very high quality, it was announced.

IFC, a World Bank Group company, is the world's largest development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets.

"This is the first financing project carried out by Bank Pekao together with IFC, and I firmly believe that it will not be the last. I hope we will have the opportunity to cooperate on future projects, especially since IFC is a global leader in financing environmentally friendly projects, in which we are actively involved," said Bank Pekao Vice Chairman Jerzy Kwiecinski.

The direct owner of SK Hi-Tech Battery Materials Poland and at the same time the debt guarantor in the agreement is South Korea-listed SK ie Technology Co. Ltd. The guarantor is one of the world's leading separator manufacturers and the largest global producer of wet separators, not including China, it stressed.

The financing is classified as "green" and the project is in line with Bank Pekao's ESG strategy.

Source: IFC and ISBnews