Muscat: The Oman Investment Authority announced today its investment in the American company Ascend Elements, which specializes in recycling lithium-ion batteries that are used in electric vehicles; This is an embodiment of efforts to enhance the portfolio of generations in order to achieve financial sustainability, and to continue to enter into new investment sectors in line with global trends in this aspect.
Ibrahim bin Saeed Al-Aysari, Director General of Private Equity at ADAA, said: This new investment is in line with the Agency’s strategy of investing in transformational companies, as this sector in which the American company operates is competitive and rapidly growing, and enjoys support in the United States of America, the United Kingdom and Europe. This gives the Authority an opportunity to enter into partnerships with international partners and investors, in addition to the rewarding returns expected from investment in this sector.
The American company has invented a new technology in the recycling of electric vehicle batteries that focuses on the sustainable use of spent lithium-ion batteries, and converting them into high-performance batteries for electric vehicles, as this technology reduces the cost of recycling electric batteries by 50% and reduces carbon emissions by 87%.
After investing in the device, the company received support of 480 million US dollars from the US government represented by the US Department of Energy. As part of the US initiative to support the manufacturing sector of battery materials for electric vehicles; Which raised the market value of the company, and the company also entered into partnerships with a number of pioneers in the manufacture of electric car batteries, and car manufacturers such as Jaguar, Land Rover, Ford, and Tesla.
