Battery manufacturer GS Yuasa has made two further acquisitions in recent months. It acquired the remaining 50% of Turkish lead-acid battery manufacturer Inci Aku in June. It also bought a 40% stake in lead-acid battery manufacturer Yuasa Battery Malaysia at the end of May as it seeks to expand its market share.
GS Yuasa International, a subsidiary of battery firm GS Yuasa, said the Turkey acquisition was part of its strategy to expand its business and enhance earning capacity. In its third mid-term business plan, the group said one of its important strategic challenges was “global expansion based on overseas growing markets as the pivots”.
Inci, the manufacturer of lead-acid batteries for automotive, forklift and stationary applications, will be turned into one of GS Yuasa’s key centres in the global strategy.
GS Yuasa plans to change the trade name of Inci Aku to Inci GS Yuasa in August.
GS Yuasa said: “We are aiming, as a target of our group, to realise our sales expansion domestically in Turkey, where there continues to be a steady increase in demand for lead-acid storage batteries. We are also further scaling up our existing exports to regions including Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. And as part of our global strategy, we are committed to pursuing large expansion of our lead-acid storage battery business in the above-mentioned regions, in which we have not been very competitive thus far.”
The Malaysian stake was acquired through GS Yuasa’s subsidiary, Siam GS Battery. This boosts the firms’ ownership in Yuasa Battery Malaysia to 70%, and transfers its management rights to GS Yuasa. Its moves in Malaysia would also expand its market share in the Malaysian market.
Founded in 1979, Yuasa Battery Malaysia manufactures lead-acid batteries for automobiles and motorcycles in Malaysia.
“In recent years, the competition in the Malaysian market has intensified due to acquisitions by competing companies and new entries, but the group aims to expand its market share by using management resources and the expertise of SGS, which has a 50-year track record of manufacturing and selling the batteries in Thailand,” said GS Yuasa.
The firm added that it has about 10% of market share in the automotive lead-acid battery market and plans to double sales volume by 2018.
GS Yuasa powers on in Indonesia
GS Yuasa unveiled plans in May to boost lead-acid storage battery production for automobiles and motorcycles at three of its Indonesian affiliates.
The company has constructed a new plant and will boost production at the three affiliates by the end of the year. It said it was seeking to take advantage of continued economic growth in the region.
Production capacity for automotive lead-acid storage batteries will increase to 9.6 million units from 8.9 million. Production capacity for motorcycle lead-acid storage batteries will rise to 30 million units from 27.7 million.
GS Battery has bought 30,000 square metres of land in Semarang, about 500km east of central Jakarta, and invested ¥1.5 billion ($12 million) in the construction of a new plant for production automotive lead-acid storage batteries. With the new plant, production capacity will increase to 5.6 million units by the end of 2015.
Separately, it has made a smaller investment in a 8,000 sq m facility in the Jakarta suburb of Karawang where it will increase its production of motorcycle lead-acid storage batteries.
The investment will help boost capacity at this site to 16 million units by the end of 2015.
GS Yuasa has also made another company, Trimitra Baterai Prakasa, a full subsidiary and invested some ¥20 billion in increasing its production capacity of automotive lead-acid storage batteries. It said this will boost the production capacity of the subsidiary to 4 million units by the end of 2015.
Yuasa Battery Indonesia, which makes motorcycle lead-acid storage batteries in Tangerang, will also add a new assembly line to its existing plant. With the new line, its production capacity will rise to 14 million units by the end of 2015.
