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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe parent company of lithium-ion battery maker EnerDel has landed a $65 million investment from its largest shareholder.
The privately held Ener1 Group, led by Russian industrialist Boris Zingarevich, will purchase about 18.7 million shares of New York-based Ener1 Inc. and also receive 8 million warrants convertible to common stock beginning six months after the deal closes. The additional capital will be used to "scale" the company's growing battery business.
Zingarevich, 50, already controls about 3.8 million shares in the publicly traded company, formed in 1994 via the merger of the lithium-battery operations of Ener1 and Michigan-based Delphi Corp.
EnerDel, the company's principal operating subsidiary, in January said it would create 1,400 jobs in Indiana over the next several years, mostly at a new production plant in Axcess 70 industrial park in Hancock County. EnerDel is headquartered on the northeast side of Indianapolis on Hague Road, where about 200 of its 260 employees and independent contractors work. It also has a facility in Noblesville.
EnerDel has landed a $118 million federal grant and expects to receive a Department of Energy loan for $250 million to $300 million. The company also is in line for $21 million in tax credits from the state of Indiana because it chose to build its first full-scale battery production facility in Hancock County.
Ener1 Inc. shares were up nearly 6 percent in early trading Tuesday, to about $3.70 each.
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