September 23, 2024: The sale of Mutlu Akü to lead mogul Howard Meyers, created a furore when the 19th European Lead Battery Conference opened last week in Milan’s MiCo Congress Centre.
Meyer’s purchase of a lead battery firm runs counter to the mainstream investment trend. This is where private equity and venture capital firms owning huge chunks of battery manufacturers and related equipment suppliers are trying to sell off their shareholdings. Some of these investor firms have been waiting for years to sell off these assets.
At least three new lead players are known by Batteries International to be up for sale in the past three years — one German, one part-Italian and one US supplier. And this is not to forget the more than half a dozen firms that were already up for grabs 2021.
“Existing investors are unsure of what to do with their equity stakes,” one ELBC delegate said. “They can’t see a decent exit strategy and are rudely aware that they could be comfortably sitting on a 5% return on their money by just parking it in a bank, rather than making their companies more profitable.
“They’re in a funny position in that all the major lead battery manufacturers have booming operations — quite literally factories working as close to full capacity (and that’s despite the global shortage of workers).
“That said, they feel the storm clouds are gathering — there are massive changes anticipated in the battery and energy storage market. It’s encapsulated in one word: lithium. This is their uncertainty and presently looks like the risk without the returns threatening their lead investments.”
