SK Ecoplant Sells All Shares of US Spent Battery Recycling Company

Ascend Elements Shares 9.22 Million to SKS PE
"Portfolio Optimization... Expected Strengthening of Financial Soundness"

SK ecoplant is streamlining its portfolio by selling all shares of Ascend Elements, a US-based battery recycling specialist.

On the 9th, SK ecoplant announced that it sold 9,223,555 shares of Ascend Elements to SKS Private Equity (SKS PE) for $98.23 million (approximately 131.6 billion KRW). SK ecoplant had previously invested a total of $60.84 million in Ascend Elements.

With this sale, SK ecoplant plans to accelerate portfolio optimization, including its recycling business. Centered on its recycling specialist subsidiary SK Tess, the company aims to foster IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) services in response to growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI), while continuing its market leadership strategy for battery recycling focused on global hubs. SK Tess is expanding its data center?dedicated ITAD facilities and operates a hyperscale factory in Virginia, USA, capable of processing up to 600,000 individual servers annually.

High value-added creation through collaboration between Essencore, which is about to be incorporated as a subsidiary, and SK Tess is also anticipated. Essencore is a semiconductor module company headquartered in Hong Kong. IT assets that have undergone the ITAD process are either repaired and inspected for resale as refurbished products or dismantled and sold as parts (such as RAM) or materials. Essencore’s memory products, including DRAM memory modules, SSDs, SD cards, and USBs, can be utilized in this process. The business structure is also expected to include extracting key metals for semiconductor materials through shredding and supplying them to semiconductor manufacturers.

In the electric vehicle battery recycling market, SK ecoplant plans to explore new directions using infrastructure accumulated in the North American region and maximize the utilization of facilities established in Europe and Asia. SK ecoplant has previously succeeded in internalizing core technologies that enhance the recovery rates of key minerals such as nickel, cobalt, and lithium from used batteries.

SK ecoplant also expects to strengthen its financial soundness through this sale, securing over 130 billion KRW in liquidity from the sale of existing shares.

SK ecoplant stated, “We have secured practical benefits through strategic investment,” adding, “We will continue to enhance financial stability based on liquidity 확보 and strengthen competitiveness in recycling businesses, including battery recycling.”