Hunton & Williams Assists Banpu in a New  Lithium-Ion Battery and Energy Storage Business

Hunton & Williams (Thailand) Limited represented Banpu Infinergy Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Banpu Public Company Limited (SET:BANPU) engaging as one-stop provider of total solar energy solutions, in the investment through its subsidiary BPIN Investment Co., Ltd., in New Resources Technology Pte. Ltd. (NRT) for a 44.84% equity interest worth SGD 45.10 million (equivalent to approximately US$ 33.20 million or THB 1.04 billion). The transaction was completed and the disclosure to the Stock Exchange of Thailand was issued on March 7, 2018.

NRT is a Singapore holding company specializing in researching, designing, manufacturing and integrating Lithium-Ion Battery (LiB) for automotive industry and Energy Storage Systems (ESS). NRT has an operating battery-manufacturing factory in China with capacity of 80 MWh and further expansion plans in future to serve existing and new customers in markets spanning from China, ASEAN, Europe, Japan and India.

As Banpu is a traditionally coal-mining and power producer in Thailand and internationally, this new investment marks its first major step into the advanced energy technology of LiB and EES business, which has been identified as a new business platform, aiming to achieve Banpu’s strategy of being an integrated energy company.

As lead international counsel for the cross-border transaction, Hunton advised on high-level due diligence, structuring the acquisition and participating in strategic negotiation and documentation until the completion of the deal. Hunton & Williams’s Bangkok and Beijing offices, multidisciplinary team was led by counsel Chumbhot Plangtrakul with support from associate Christopher B. Huong who assisted in the definitive documents and junior lawyer Jitranut Narkmai who assisted in corporate regulatory advice and completing the Transaction. The deal included Partner Manuel E. Maisog who led the due diligence in China with support from associates Min Yang and Judy Li.

This transaction involved with Drew & Napier LLC as Singapore counsel to Banpu and Morgan Lewis Stamford as legal counsel of NRT and the founding shareholders.