(Yicai) Sept. 26 -- Shares in Seres Group surged as much as 7.8 percent today after the Chinese new energy vehicle maker said that battery materials supplier Ganfeng Lithium has bought a third of its commercial electric vehicle unit for CNY1 billion (USD137 million).

Seres’ share price [SHA: 601127] was trading up 1.3 percent at CNY51.92 (USD7.10) as of 1.15 p.m. China time today. Earlier in the day it hit CNY55.25. Ganfeng’s stock price [SHE: 002460] was trading down 1.8 percent at CNY44.04.

Ganfeng has purchased a 33.3 percent stake in Chongqing Ruichi Automobiles, the two parties said yesterday. Once the transaction is complete, Seres’ shareholding will be diluted to 66.67 percent.

The cash injection will help accelerate the development of new products and open up the market, Chongqing-based Seres said. Ruichi manufactures around 20,000 cold storage trucks, police cars, ambulances, freight trucks and other commercial vehicles a year.

The investment aims to realize cooperation in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain while improving the company’s industrial layout, Xinyu, eastern Jiangxi province-based Ganfeng said. No details were given of potential future business tie-ups.

By bringing in an investor, Seres will be able to focus more on its core business of electric passenger cars, the carmaker said. Seres has already launched a number of passenger NEVs with tech giant Huawei Technologies and the two firms plan to deepen their co-operation to sell one million NEVs by 2026, it said in February.

Editor: Kim Taylor