The Dow Chemical Company 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.