http://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/aus…5549r.html?btis
Shares in a little known ASX-listed maker of battery technology for electric vehicles and energy storage systems have gone on a tear in recent weeks amid twin rumours of a deal with Tesla and the US government. Driving the share price were rumours on social media and stock forums that Tesla would announce at its “battery day” it would be using Novonix’s technology in its new batteries.
But as the rumours dissipated and Tesla delayed its battery day to later this year, Novonix’s market capitalisation dropped. On Monday the stock shot up again, the same day two executives told The Australian Financial Review it was working with “some folks in Washington on understanding the opportunity” for its products in the wake of limits on Chinese made products by the Trump administration.
Asked by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald last week about when the board was in receipt of the information that led to such a large share price surge and whether that was before the capital raising was launched, Mr Phil St Baker said: “Public communication relating to the technology update of June 9, 2020 to which you refer started on November 21 last year at the company AGM.”
…..Novonix also held an investor briefing on June 9 after announcing its “breakthrough” where chief operating officer Chris Burns was asked about the Tesla rumours. “There’s a lot of coverage around Tesla’s expansion toward being vertically integrated and building their own cells. And so they would certainly fall in this list of companies that would be interested in working with us on our materials,” he said in response to a question that had been emailed in by an investor and read out by a representative of a communications firm assisting with the briefing
Mr St Baker said the group had had confidentiality agreements in place with a number of players when asked about the Tesla rumours. “Battery cell makers supplying the automakers are the companies you need to be doing deals with if you’re a battery materials company and that’s exactly what Novonix is doing,” he said. “Publicly available information shows that Tesla buys its battery cells from the established makers, while they are working toward potentially making their own cells in the future.”
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