Johnson Controls (JCI), a global diversified company in the building and automotive industry, has signed an agreement with MAC, an automotive battery supplier, to form a joint venture in Colombia for producing and selling lead-acid batteries in the Central and South American regions.
JCI sells several brands of batteries in Latin America, including Heliar, Varta, LTH and Optim, while MAC is an established automotive battery supplier in Colombia, and it sells batteries to the aftermarket and to automakers in the Central and South American regions and in the Caribbean.
The collaboration will enable both the companies to expand their footprint, bringing new technology to the market and increasing their exports from Colombia, mainly to the countries in the Andean Region.
In addition, the joint venture with MAC, which owns a lead recycling facility in Yumbo, Colombia, processing 30,000 tons of lead annually, the equivalent of 3 million batteries per year, supports JCI’s objective of vertical integration of the lead business through investments in lead recycling capability.
Johnson Controls Power Solutions, Americas vice president and general manager Allen Martin said that Johnson Controls Power Solutions has had a presence in South America for more than a decade and its Heliar automotive battery brand is nearing its 80th year in the market.
“We have a strong South American business now and we’ll continue to invest in the region to maintain our leadership as the market grows,” Martin said.