Orange County cities and property owners should be ready to pitch battery magnate and investor Winston Chung on short notice if they hope to land his proposed electric battery plant.
Chung said earlier this month that he plans to build a factory that will eventually employ 2,600 workers somewhere in Southern California. He said many cities in the region have already begun approaching him about incentives.
Chung is known to strike deals quickly, with his position running Winston Batteries Ltd., a maker of lithium-ion batteries in China, as his calling card. He has said he often makes decisions to buy companies in minutes.
Orange County appears to have a leg up in terms of getting his interest.
Chung made a splash here in August when he announced plans to buy the Balboa Bay Club and Resort as well as the Newport Beach Country Club, a deal that’s expected to close next month. Chung, who speaks through a translator, has said he plans to outfit the Balboa Club with charging stations for yachts that convert to electric batteries.
He’s in escrow on a home on the Newport Beach waterfront, and spoke fondly about the area when he stopped at the Balboa Bay Club earlier this month for a press conference following honors from the United Nations Association in New York. The association, a foundation that promotes the global body, named him an “outstanding social entrepreneur.”
Newport Beach “is a really good place to reside, very clean and very comfortable,” Chung said through a translator. “Little by little, [I’ll] become a resident of the city”.
And Chung’s general comments about Southern California as a site for the electric battery industry applied as much to Orange County as other sections of the region.
“Here we have a lot of talent pool, good labor, good invention and good creativity,” he said.
A couple of his business investments over the past year in the region have come in areas adjacent to Orange County. Others have been within the county.
Chung put $5 million into Balqon Corp., a developer of electric drive systems, lithium battery systems and medium- to heavy-duty electric vehicles that’s based in Harbor City, near the southern border of Los Angeles County.
One of Balqon’s largest customers is Riverside-based MVP RV, a recreational vehicle manufacturer Chung invested in early this year. His investment in MVP RV has been valued at about $310 million, assuming production goals are met.
Fountain Valley
His Orange County investments include $32 million in Fountain Valley-based Gaffoglio Family Metalcrafters Inc., which makes prototypes and designs for large automakers.
In Brea, Krystal Koach Inc., one of the country’s largest limousine makers, ended a brief stint in bankruptcy earlier this year after Chung took a stake in a deal valued at roughly $9 million.
Krystal Koach is expected to develop new, green vehicles—presumably using Chung’s batteries—including luxury shuttle buses, funeral cars and security vehicles in addition to limos.
The various investments and Chung’s apparent fondness for Newport Beach seem to bode well for Orange County as a location for any factory he might build, with the area shaping up as a central point amid his various operations.
There will be competition, though.
Riverside is highlighting a $10 million donation by Chung to the University of California, Riverside’s Department of Engineering in advertisements in Southwest Airlines’ in-flight magazine to tout itself as a business location.
Balqon President and Chief Executive Balwinder Samra seems to have Chung’s ear, and makes no qualms where he’d like the see the battery plant located.
“We think our interests are very clear, which is L.A.,” Samra said.
Chung serves as chairman of Balqon, which trades on the over-the-counter Bulletin Board and counts a market value of about $30 million. He’s also chairman of Metalcrafters in Fountain Valley.
Samra said he sees an edge in Balqon’s technology, which he characterizes as the key to Chung’s vision of a move away from diesel to zero emission products.
“We are sort of the technology hub of his investments,” he said.
Chung will face obstacles in manufacturing in California if he goes through with plans for the battery factory, including environmental regulations, tax rates and other costs of doing business.
Chung downplayed the challenges on his recent visit to Newport Beach.
“The manufacturing process is very environmentally friendly so we can start manufacturing anywhere,” he said.
Mystery
Chung remains somewhat of a mystery even with the attention he’s draw to himself. He is regularly described in press reports as a billionaire, although no firm count of his assets appears to be available.
There’s been some controversy, too. Chung served for a time as president of Thunder Sky Energy Group Ltd., a Hong Kong-based maker of batteries for electric bikes, motorcycles and automobiles.
He was removed from that company’s executive team in March.
Litigation regarding the move is ongoing, according to trade industry reports.
