News Briefing

toktok newsletter will keep you up-to-date with the latest news on SK and member companies.

 

 


 

Socar Mobility Malaysia, Malaysia’s No.1 car sharing service provider invested and governed by SK Inc. as its biggest shareholder has attracted a total of 650 billion won in investments in 2020. Socar Mobility Malaysia represents the first international version of Korea’s car sharing service. It was incorporated as a joint venture between SK Inc. and SOCAR in 2017, inaugurating car sharing services in Malaysia in January, 2018. The investment deal was joined by global private equity fund East Bridge Partners and Malaysia-based multinational corporation Sime Darby. Socar Mobility Malaysia is not content with its industry No.1 status in Malaysia and aims to expand its business reach into other major Southeast Asian countries to become a leader of the mobility platform business in the region. Meanwhile, starting with an investment of about 100 billion won in SOCAR in 2015 inspired by its focus on the rapid growth of emerging mobility services, SK Inc. has invested in leading car sharing and mobility tech companies across different regions of the world including Grab, Turo, Otonomo, expecting handsome returns on investment as such businesses are gearing up for exchange listing.

 

 

On September 27th (US local time), SK innovation and Ford announced the locations of the battery production sites of BlueOvalSK, the joint venture of two companies at Tennessee and Kentucky and their large-scale investment plan. Ford and SK innovation announced on the day that they plan to invest a total of USD 11.4 billion in constructing battery plants and EV assembly plants in the two areas. SK innovation announced that it would invest USD 4.45 billion in the construction these BlueOvalSK’s plants. This amount is equivalent to its 50% stake in the joint venture. The BlueOvalSK battery plants will boast the largest ever in the U.S so far. The production site in Tennessee will be built at Ford’s 3,600 acre Blue Oval City with annual capacity of 43 GWh. The plants in Kentucky will occupy the site of 1,500 acre with a production capacity of 86 GWh per year. In total, the plants are expected to produce 129 GWh annually. Being the largest single investment in SK innovation’s history, this investment in BlueOvalSK will help the company become the leading battery maker in the U.S. market. Combining these plants with two other SK innovation’s EV battery plants built in Georgia, the company will be able to produce 150 GWh annually in the U.S. alone. Consequently, this will enable the company to exceed the goal of securing 200 GWh production capacity per year across the globe by 2025.

 

 

 

 

SKC will launch an eco-friendly plastic solution business in Kuwait in collaboration with PIC, the country’s biggest petrochemical company, 100% owned subsidiary of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC). SK pic Global, a petrochemical joint venture incorporated by SKC and PIC, signed an MOU on an eco-friendly plastic solution business partnership with Kuwait in Los Angeles, USA on Sep. 16 (local time). In the MOU, SKC, PIC, and SK pic Global agreed to jointly review market trends and applicable laws/regulations, and study commercial feasibility as a preliminary step for deploying SKC’s unrivaled business prowess in the eco-friendly plastic business sector. They will study the commercial viability of pyrolysis oil synthesized from plastic wastes and biodegradable plastic products and seek to launch local business operations via joint ventures or technology exports.

 

 

 

 

SK geocentric has forged a partnership MOU with APP (Asia Pulp and Paper) Group online to develop eco-friendly paper packaging materials. Headquartered in Indonesia, APP Group is specialized in manufacturing pulp and paper products that are being exported to over 160 countries around the world. This partnership initiative will allow SK geocentric and APP Group to jointly work on the supply of paper materials such as recycled paper for new eco-friendly packaging materials and development/introduction of eco-friendly materials. Conventional paper packaging materials coated with plastic presented a significant recycling challenge as it was difficult to separate plastic coating from the underlying paper. But, thanks to the MOU, SK geocentric is expected to incorporate highly functional eco-friendly materials in paper packaging to facilitate recycling and thereby contribute to overcoming environmental challenges. Stepping on the eco-friendly paper packaging solution development partnership, SK geocentric and APP Group vow to further expand the scope of their cooperation on eco-friendly paper materials, developing highly functional paper products incorporating biodegradable materials.