LG Companies to Pay $918M Over Chevy Bolt Fires, Resume Plans for IPO Before Year-End
LG Chem has come to an agreement with General Motors (NYSE: GM) to cover the cost of the Bolt battery recall, as the automaker is forced to recall all Bolt EVs ever produced.
According to a company statement seen by Bloomberg, LG Energy Solution and LG Electronics Inc— both of which are owned by LG Chem Ltd and manufactured electric vehicle batteries for GM, have agreed to pay the automaker a combined 1.1 trillion won, or $918 million in costs related to the Chevy Bolt recall.
LG Energy is expected to pay about 620 billion won after fires started in about a dozen Bolts, prompting GM to issue a recall spanning across more than 100,000 vehicles. LG Electronics, which was responsible for packaging the cells produced by LG Energy into modules that were placed in the batteries, has also agreed to compensate GM 480 billion won in costs.
Including previous costs related to the recall that were disclosed during the companies’ second-quarter earnings, both companies are now responsible for coming up with a total of 1.4 trillion won related to the recall. Following the news, LG Electronics slumped by nearly 1% before paring back losses, while LG Chem jumped by over 4%.
On Tuesday, LG Energy also announced that it will resume plans to launch an IPO before the end of the year, after putting the original plans on hold after GM announced the recall. LG Energy was one of the largest EV battery manufacturers in the world between January and August, and according to a report cited by the Korea Times, the company’s valuation sits at around 100 trillion won, or $83.58 billion, with expectations that it could raise nearly 10 trillion won during during the IPO.
Information for this briefing was found via Bloomberg and the companies mentioned. The author has no securities or affiliations related to this organization. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.
