Elon Musk's direct deal propels 'ultra rich' fortune for South Korean company

Elon Musk passedhis billionaire acumento a South Korean business family, putting them among the elusive group of world's 'ultra-rich' individuals.

Shares ofDalseo-gu, Daegu-basedL&F Co., a producer of high-nickel cathodes that are key to making batteries for electric vehicles, have soared 82 per cent this year. Reason? Well, the South Korean company won a $2.9 billion order from Tesla.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the listed holdings for the L&F Co. chairperson Hur Jae-hong and family is now worth more than $800 million.

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Tesla has been using L&F’s cathodes for years. But they were supplied through LG Energy Solution Ltd.

This is the first time that L&F has become Tesla's direct client.

Like L&F, shares of companies that provide components or materials used to make electric cars have surged in recent years, generating huge amounts of wealth for their owners, Bloomberg reported.

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For L&F, which so far has made most of its revenue from LG Energy Solution, the Tesla deal could be transformational.

L&F began developing cathode materials for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries in 2005. Soon they became its most significant business. Sales increased ten-fold to 3.8 trillion won ($2.9 billion) from 2020 to 2022, with LG Energy Solution accounting for as much as 80 per cent of last year’s revenue.

L&F may see its reliance on LG Energy Solution drop to 50 per centof its total revenue by 2025, according to a research report by Shinyoung Securities Co. analyst Jin-soo Park cited by Bloomberg. The manufacturers like Tesla are expected to contribute to 30 per cent of sales.

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