MIDLAND, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) and MBP Investors, LLC (MBP), an affiliate of Townsend Ventures (Townsend), together announce the acquisition of Dow’s ownership interest in Dow Kokam LLC (Dow Kokam) by MBP. The transaction makes MBP the majority owner of Dow Kokam, which includes the Midland Battery Park in Michigan and the Lee’s Summit facility in Missouri.
Dow’s decision to exit its interest in Dow Kokam aligns with Dow’s market participation strategy and investment prioritization decisions driven by improving return on capital and total shareholder return. In addition, Dow is focusing on the materials portion of the battery value chain, not batteries themselves. As a founder of Dow Kokam and owner of MBP, Townsend’s decision to purchase Dow’s interest in Dow Kokam aligns with its global strategy to continue investing in and providing leadership and support to emerging technologies in the energy storage market.
“Today’s announcement is another example of Dow’s strategic actions to narrow our market participation,” said Andrew N. Liveris, Dow’s chairman and chief executive officer. “It demonstrates our commitment to prioritizing and aligning our portfolio towards select, targeted end-use markets with the objective to accelerate value creation and deliver long-term, sustainable growth for Dow and its shareholders. We remain committed to delivering competitively advantaged solutions to the battery market through our battery materials business, where our position in the value chain is strategic and margin growth opportunities are clear. This transaction is a solid, strategic fit for both Dow and Townsend.”
Dow Kokam currently provides high-performance advanced energy storage solutions to a wide-range of customers in the fleet transportation, stationary storage, marine, defense and industrial markets. Dow Kokam designs and manufactures large-format nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) lithium-ion cells and systems that deliver advanced battery solutions with energy, power, lifetime, safety and cost advantages. Dow Kokam’s Midland Battery Park includes one of the highest capacity, large format lithium ion battery manufacturing plants in the world.
“Increasing our ownership in Dow Kokam will allow us to bring our market expertise and resources to this business in a way we couldn’t do before,” said Dennis Townsend, chief executive officer of Townsend Ventures. “The acquisition is a strategic fit with our other battery investments, allowing us to leverage complimentary technologies to position Dow Kokam as a leader in the emerging large-scale energy storage market.”
The remaining interests in Dow Kokam are held by TK Advanced Battery LLC (a Townsend affiliate), KA Founders LLC, and Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault. In addition to Dow Kokam, Townsend Ventures also has investments in other related businesses, including Energy Power Systems and AllCell Technologies.
About Dow
Dow (NYSE: DOW) combines the power of science and technology to passionately innovate what is essential to human progress. The Company connects chemistry and innovation with the principles of sustainability to help address many of the world's most challenging problems such as the need for clean water, renewable energy generation and conservation, and increasing agricultural productivity. Dow's diversified industry-leading portfolio of specialty chemical, advanced materials, agrosciences and plastics businesses delivers a broad range of technology-based products and solutions to customers in approximately 160 countries and in high growth sectors such as electronics, water, energy, coatings and agriculture. In 2012, Dow had annual sales of approximately $57 billion and employed approximately 54,000 people worldwide. The Company's more than 5,000 products are manufactured at 188 sites in 36 countries across the globe. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted. More information about Dow can be found at www.dow.com.
About Townsend Ventures
Townsend Ventures is a private investment firm based in Maryland. For over thirty-five years Townsend Ventures and its affiliated companies have successfully invested in a broad spectrum of real estate and operating companies. The company’s investment strategy is based on leveraging the technologies of its various companies to greatly enhance the value proposition to its customers in the global energy storage market. More information about Townsend Ventures can be found at www.TownsendVentures.com.
