This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 4:11 p.m. on Jun. 12, 2026.
Private equity fund (PEF) manager Forest Partners made a new investment of more than 10 billion won in JR Energy Solution, a company specializing in contract manufacturing of secondary batteries. The move is seen as targeting the diversification of demand into energy storage systems (ESS), robots, and more, despite the electric vehicle "chasm" (slowing demand).
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 12th, Forest Partners recently invested more than 10 billion won in JR Energy Solution. The method was to acquire convertible bonds (CB) newly issued by JR Energy Solution, and in this transaction, JR Energy Solution's corporate value was assessed at around 100 billion won.
JR Energy Solution, a specialized secondary battery foundry (contract manufacturing) corporations, was established in Nov. 2022. Adapting the fabless (design specialist)–foundry division of labor from the semiconductor industry to secondary batteries, it takes orders from customers with battery design capabilities and handles electrode manufacturing and cell assembly.
The company has secured Hankook & Company and Yujin Technology as major strategic investors (SI) and established a mass-production system. It built an electrode line with a capacity of 500 megawatt-hours (MWh) and a cell assembly line with an annual capacity of 200,000 cells in the Eumseong industrial complex in North Chungcheong. It also scheduled a production facility expansion for Oct. this year.
Forest Partners is said to have highly evaluated the growth potential of battery foundries. Despite slowing demand in the electric vehicle market, demand sources for secondary batteries are rapidly diversifying into non-EV applications such as ESS, robots, mines, agricultural machinery, and construction equipment.
The diversification of battery materials and technologies also became a factor in Forest Partners' bet on JR Energy Solution. As materials diversify from a focus on nickel, cobalt, and manganese ternary (NCM) to lithium iron phosphate (LFP), lithium manganese rich (LMR), and sodium-ion, the role of foundries has grown.
In fact, even secondary battery manufacturers that built their own mass-production lines are reportedly turning to foundries with the goal of small-batch production for new material development. In particular, JR Energy Solution has secured all three so-called K-battery companies—LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI, and SK On—as customers.
Results are also improving. JR Energy Solution posted sales of 15.1 billion won last year. That was an increase of more than 200% from 4.9 billion won the previous year. During the same period, the operating loss narrowed by nearly 36%, from 9.7 billion won to around 6.2 billion won. Last year's net loss came to about 8 billion won.
The visibility of Forest Partners' exit is also seen as relatively high. The company set a goal of turning to an operating profit this year and decided to push for an initial public offering (IPO) in 2028. The company is understood to have already selected Shinhan Investment & Securities as the lead underwriter for a KOSDAQ listing.
An IB industry official said, "The compressed valuation across the secondary battery industry likely played a major role in Forest Partners' investment decision," adding, "They moved preemptively into a company whose sales are growing rapidly and losses are narrowing in a phase where price tags have come down."