On March 3, LS Cable & System announced that it will take its subsidiary LS Materials public and develop it into a company specializing in eco-friendly energy materials and parts.
LS Materials signed a representative management contract with KB Securities and Kiwoom Securities on the same day and plans to seek a preliminary review by June and list on the KOSDAQ within the year.
LS Materials is currently the world's number one player in the ultracapacitor (UC) market, which is known as a next-generation secondary battery.
UC offers advantages such as high-speed charge-discharge and long lifespan, making it suitable to replace or supplement primary batteries and lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). It is used mainly in wind turbines, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) in semiconductor factories, factory automation, and Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs).
LS Materials began research and development in 2002 at LS Cable & System and has been supplying products to more than 500 customers worldwide for 20 years. It has LS Alsco, engaged in the aluminum new material business, as a subsidiary. LS Alsco is the only company in Korea with an international aluminum alloy certification.
“UC is expected to rapidly expand its application areas as it can compensate for the shortcomings of existing secondary batteries, and demand for aluminum is also rapidly increasing, especially for electric vehicles," said Hong Young-ho, CEO of LS Materials. "We will create new opportunities by using electric vehicle charging station ESS and aluminum parts for electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cells as the three new growth engines.”
LS Cable & System expects LS Materials to lead its related businesses as the first listed subsidiary in the renewable energy and electric vehicle business. LS Materials recorded consolidated sales of KRW 162 billion and operating profit of KRW 14.5 billion last year, which is an increase of 28% and 73% compared to the previous year, thanks to the increase in exports to North America.
LS Cable & System supplies key parts for electric vehicles, such as harnesses for electric vehicles and winding wires for motors, through its subsidiaries LS EV Korea and LS EVC.
The company expects LS Materials to create synergies with LS Cable and other LS Group affiliates in new businesses such as offshore wind power and electric vehicles. LS Materials plans to use electric vehicle charging station ESS and aluminum parts for electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cells as three new growth engines.
