SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s SK Holdings Co Ltd said on Thursday it and China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co Ltd will each invest $30 million in a new mobility investment fund whose size they plan will reach $300 million in total.
The fund will invest in promising companies in fields such as autonomous driving, electrification and connectivity, and aims to attract global investors, including European banks and pension funds in Asia, the holding firm of South Korea’s third-largest conglomerate SK Group said in a statement.
SK also said it has agreed with Geely, parent of Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd, to promote diverse cooperation in next-generation mobility businesses involving hydrogen fuel, battery-related materials, chips and autonomous driving technology.
Hangzhou-based Geely, which owns Volvo Cars and a 9.7% stake in Daimler AG, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
SK affiliates include the world’s second-largest memory chip maker SK Hynix Inc and electric vehicle battery manufacturer SK Innovation Co Ltd.
The plan follows a flurry of tie-ups by Geely earlier this year as the automaker looks to turn itself into a leading EV contract manufacturer and engineering service provider, in a bid to take on EV leader Tesla Inc.
(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Additional reporting by Yilei Sun; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Richard Pullin)
