Nanofilm partners Temasek in S$140m joint venture to enter hydrogen energy business

NANOFILM Technologies said on Monday that it has entered into a definitive agreement with state investment company Temasek to invest in a joint venture (JV), Sydrogen Energy.

It follows an earlier announcement in April where the parties had entered into a non-binding term sheet.

In the exchange filing on Monday, the company said Sydrogen will leverage Nanofilm's core technologies to develop new components and solutions to overcome existing limitations in enabling the use of hydrogen as an energy source.

It aims for this to bring about greater and more widespread commercial adoption of hydrogen energy.

Under the JV agreement, the total initial investment in Sydrogen is up to around S$140 million, comprising cash contribution of up to S$21 million by Nanofilm and the transfer of the group's hydrogen energy business and related intellectual property for a 65 per cent shareholding, and cash contribution by Temasek for the remainder.

Nanofilm said the proceeds are intended to be used for research and development and the construction of production capacity.

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Nanofilm executive chairman Shi Xu said: "We are excited to partner Temasek in this strategic joint venture to tackle the global climate change crisis through technological solutions that enable the hydrogen economy."

He added: "The combination of Nanofilm's technologies and Temasek's global network will help Sydrogen bring its advanced solutions to the hydrogen economy quickly and effectively."

Sydrogen will anchor its core research and development activities in Singapore, Nanofilm said. It also noted that Sydrogen sees China as an attractive market, with government policies strongly supporting the development of a hydrogen economy starting with fuel cell electric vehicles.

Nanofilm added that Sydrogen has entered into a technology collaboration with Nanyang Technological University to license the latter's fuel cell associated intellectual property.

Nanofilm shares closed at S$6.22 on Monday, down S$0.04 or 0.6 per cent, before the announcement.