SEOUL, June 3 (Korea Bizwire) — SK Corp., the holding company of SK Group, said Thursday it has made a strategic investment in Monolith Materials Inc., an American hydrogen company, to ramp up its clean energy business.
The holding firm of South Korea’s No. 3 conglomerate said it has signed a deal to acquire stakes in Monolith, without elaborating on the investment amount.
SK’s stakes in the Nebraska-based company is valued at tens of millions of dollars, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.
Monolith uses renewable electricity to convert natural gas to hydrogen and carbon black, which is used in the automotive and industrial sectors. Its emission-free hydrogen produced via a plasma-based process is classified as “green hydrogen.”
SK Group, whose businesses include petrochemicals, natural gas and electric vehicle batteries, is speeding up its transition to eco-friendly energy sources, and has expanded investment in hydrogen to use it in power plants and vehicles instead of fossil fuels.
In January, SK Group acquired a 9.9 percent stake in U.S-based hydrogen fuel cell maker Plug Power Inc. and agreed to form a joint venture to help provide hydrogen fuel cell products to Asian markets.
(Yonhap)