[News Article] Ontario offers more incentives to attract LGES-Stellantis battery plant
Ontario offers more
incentives to attract LGES-Stellantis battery plant By Park Jae-hyuk, The
Korea Times - The Canadian province of Ontario has offered to share the burden
with the country's federal government to give larger incentives to secure the
construction of a joint battery plant run by LG Energy Solution (LGES) and
Stellantis. The latest development indicates the companies have gained an
advantage in their ongoing negotiations, according to industry officials,
Monday. The Korean battery
maker and the U.S. carmaker stopped building a joint factory in Windsor,
Ontario after to Canada did not fulfill its promise of offering higher
incentives, while providing Volkswagen with handsome benefits. As a result, the
Canadian federal government convinced Ontario to offer additional incentives to
let the construction resume. Last week, Ontario
Premier Doug Ford apparently accepted the federal government's request and
confirmed that the province will put more money on the table in its negotiation
with LGES and Stellantis. "This is all
about saving jobs and giving people the quality of life they deserve in
southwestern Ontario," Ford told reporters last Friday (local time),
without disclosing the specific amount of incentives that Ontario will provide. Canada's Minister of
Innovation, Science and Industry Francois-Philippe Champagne, who came to Korea
last week with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, welcomed Ford's comments,
mentioning his meeting with LGES executives here. "I also took
the opportunity earlier this week to have dinner with the president of LG
Energy Solution in Korea," he said. "Actually we had the dinner for
more than two hours, and he even wrote back to me this morning." Last Wednesday,
Champagne and LGES President and Chief Risk Management Officer Lee Bang-soo
attended the dinner hosted by President Yoon Suk Yeol for the Canadian prime
minister, although LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and LGES Vice Chairman and
CEO Kwon Young-soo did not meet the Canadian delegation. "I think we
have a common understanding about the way forward," Champagne added. Unifor, a general
trade union in Canada, also said it was encouraged by Ford's willingness to put
more money into the joint battery plant. It has called on the federal
government to take urgent action so that the construction of the plant can
resume. As of Monday
morning, however, both LGES and Stellantis declined to confirm whether they
would resume the construction, given that the result of their negotiation with
the Canadian government has not been announced officially. Industry officials
expect the two companies to get what they want from Canada, as the country has
tried to prevent them from considering the U.S. as an alternative location.
When Trudeau visited Korea, he and Champagne also met with the heads of Korea's
electric vehicle and battery companies, signaling the Canadian government's
strong interest in attracting them. "If LGES and
Stellantis pull the plug on their joint battery plant, Canada will lose the
opportunity of creating lots of decent jobs," an industry official said on
condition of anonymity. Source: https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2023/05/419_351459.html
2023.05.24