BYD buys 18% stake in Tibetan lithium miner

SHANGHAI — Chinese battery and autos maker BYD Co. said Friday it has agreed to buy an 18 percent stake in a Tibetan-based lithium and boron miner, moving to secure a strategically vital asset for its future growth.

BYD will pay 201.2 million yuan ($30 million) for its stake in Tibet Shigatse Zhabuye Lithium High-Tech Co., with Tibet Jinhao Investment Co. taking a 4 percent stake and BYD 18 percent, BYD said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Tibet Shigatse Zhabuye Lithium, based in Shigatse, Tibet, is a miner of lithium, boron and salts, it said. It has assets worth 431 million yuan ($64.3 million), the statement said.

The acquisition is aimed at improving the competitiveness of BYD's rechargeable battery business, it said.

BYD, which stands for Build Your Dreams, has backing from billionaire investor Warren Buffett, whose MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., the utility division of his Omaha, Neb.-based flagship Berkshire Hathaway, has a 9.9 percent stake in the Hong Kong-traded company.

The company started out as a battery maker and has successfully branched into automaking, launching mass production of a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle — the F3DM — that's sold in China and can be charged off a standard home outlet.