Two Shareholders to Sell Combined 30% Stake of Samsung Battery-Maker

Two Chinese shareholders are selling a combined 30% stake in Samsung’s Tianjin smartphone battery unit, months after a factory fire apparently caused by faulty batteries.

Tianjin Zhonghuan Electronic and Information (Group) Co. Ltd., currently the second-largest shareholder of Tianjin Samsung SDI Co. Ltd., will sell one-third of its 30% stake in the battery-maker, while state-owned Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area Co. is set to offload its entire 20% stake.

The companies’ respective plans were published on the Tianjin Property Rights Transaction Center website Monday.

A Tianjin Zhonghuan representative told Caixin the notice was correct, but declined to comment further. A public relations representative for the China business of Tianjin Samsung’s parent company, Samsung, said the company was looking into the matter and is currently unable to make an official statement on the sales.

Tianjin Samsung is controlled by Samsung SDI Co. Ltd., a major battery supplier for the South Korean electronics giant. Samsung SDI made headlines when it was blamed for the faulty Samsung Galaxy Note 7 batteries that exploded and prompted recalls in late 2016.

In the aftermath of the Galaxy Note 7 explosions, Tianjin Samsung saw a net loss of 85 million yuan ($12.9 million) for the whole of 2016.

In February, a fire broke out at a Samsung SDI plant in Tianjin, which the company said was sparked by discarded faulty batteries.

Samsung SDI has in recent months attempted to move on and turn its focus toward electric-vehicle batteries. In late September, electric-vehicle maker Tesla Inc. announced it will use battery cells from Samsung SDI instead of its usual supplier, Panasonic Corp., for its Australian energy-storage plant. At the Frankfurt Motor Show earlier in the month, the South Korean battery-maker unveiled batteries it said could power a car over a 700-kilometer (435-mile) journey.

Contact reporter Teng Jing Xuan (jingxuanteng@caixin.com)