(Yicai) Sept. 26 -- Ganfeng Lithium Group will introduce potential investors that will invest a total of CNY2.5 billion (USD350 million) in the Chinese lithium battery materials giant's loss-making lithium battery subsidiary.

Undisclosed potential investors will complete a CNY2.5 billion capital injection into Ganfeng LiEnergy Technology to obtain CNY1 of the company's registered capital for each CNY3 of investment, Ganfeng announced yesterday, adding that it will waive its preemptive rights for this transaction and in the future.

The move aims to reduce Ganfeng LiEnergy's debt ratio and support Ganfeng Lithium's integrated strategic layout across the upstream and downstream of lithium resources, the parent company noted.

Ganfeng holds a nearly 82 percent stake in Ganfeng LiEnergy. The company did not disclose how much its stake will drop after the new investors complete the capital injection, but said that it will remain the controlling shareholder.

The decline in lithium salt and lithium battery material prices impacted Ganfeng and Ganfeng LiEnergy. The latter had net losses of CNY128 million (USD17.9 million) last year and CNY62.7 million (USD8.8 million) in the first half of this year. As of June 31, it had a debt-to-asset ratio of 68 percent, and the estimated value of its shareholders' equity was CNY7.5 billion.

Ganfeng LiEnergy is building a new lithium battery factory in Nanchang, China's eastern Jiangxi province, which includes a production line for solid-state lithium batteries, according to the Nanchang municipal government website. The project is expected to be completed and put into operation by July next year.

Ganfeng's shares [SHE: 002460; HKG: 1772] closed down 2.7 percent at CNY54.25 (USD7.60) in Shenzhen today, while they fell 2.2 percent to HKD37.26 (USD4.79) in Hong Kong.

Editor: Futura Costaglione