ABB’s electric-vehicle charging business gets new investors including Singapore’s GIC

ABB’s electric-vehicle charging business has raised additional funds from minority investors including Porsche and General Atlantic in a second and final round before listing the division.

The division, ABB E-Mobility, sold a 12 per cent stake for 325 million Swiss francs (S$465.5 million) to General Atlantic’s BeyondNetZero climate fund, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, UK-based investment firm Just Climate and Porsche’s holding Porsche, according to a statement on Wednesday (Feb 1).

The value of the company remains 2.5 billion Swiss francs, the same as in the previous pre-IPO placement round.

In November, ABB sold an 8 per cent stake for about 200 million francs to equity fund Interogo Holding, family office Moyreal Holding and ABB E-mobility chairman Michael Halbherr.

The private placements, which now amount to 525 million francs in funding, will be used to grow the charging business, as the Swiss conglomerate still pursues plans for a listing.

ABB, which maintains a 80 per cent holding, in June delayed an IPO of the unit that was set to raise US$750 million because of the market rout. The industrials company offers a range of chargers and related installation and maintenance services, used by operators like Ionity and Electrify America.

“ABB remains committed to our strategy to separately list our E-mobility business subject to constructive market conditions,” ABB chief executive officer Björn Rosengren said in a statement.

ABB has been streamlining its business to boost profitability, following pressure from shareholders. In January, it sold its power-conversion unit to Taiwan’s AcBel Polytech for US$505 million. In October, the company’s Accelleron turbocharging business started trading on the Swiss stock exchange following a spin off.

“We expect the demand for charging equipment to continue to grow rapidly in the coming years”, said Lutz Meschke, Porsche investment board member and chief financial officer of Porsche. “As a leading provider of charging solutions for electric vehicles, ABB E-mobility will significantly participate in this market growth.” BLOOMBERG