China’s SDIC to invest $47m in US-based Maxwell

SDIC will buy about 7.4 million shares for $6.32 apiece, giving it a 19.9% stake in the company. The capital will be used primarily for product development, along with working capital and general corporate purposes, according to a filing. Maxwell also expects SDIC to help with its planned launch in China.

Closing is expected in the third quarter of 2017, subject to approval by the Committee on Foreign Investments in the US (CFIUS) as well as by several Chinese agencies.

Maxwell’s energy storage technologies are used in a wide variety of fields, including consumer and industrial electronics, transportation, renewable energy and information technology. In its most recent annual report, the company recorded revenue of $121 million for 2016, down from $167 million the year before. Over the same period its net loss grew from $22 million to $24 million.

“SDIC’s expertise and resources in the new energy market in China will assist us in accelerating several of our strategic initiatives to make us a much stronger global competitor,” said Franz Fink, Maxwell’s president and CEO, in a separate statement. “The funding will also help foster significant partnerships with industry leaders in automotive and energy storage and positions us to capitalize on the unprecedented dry electrode opportunity.”

SDIC Fund Management was founded in 2009 and manages more than RMB50 billion ($7.2 billion) of capital for a range of investors, including the State Development & Investment Corporation (SDIC) and National Social Security Fund. Its recent investments have focused on Chinese pharmaceutical companies, including a $40 million Series B round for Suzhou Ribo Life Science last month and a $270 million Series D round for Innovent Biologics in 2016.

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