Hitachi and ABB announced on Wednesday the formation of new joint venture Hitachi ABB Power Grids with a business volume of approximately $10 billion.

Hitachi will hold a 80.1 percent stake in the new global power leader with ABB holding the rest, according to an ABB press statement.

The agreement to form the JV was signed in December 2018.

Toshikazu Nishino, Executive Vice President of Hitachi, is the Chairman of the Zurich-headquartered entity while Claudio Facchin is the CEO.

"Hitachi's leading digital technologies merged with world-class power grid solutions will help us to play an active role in the global transformation and decarbonisation of energy systems for a sustainable energy future. Intelligent solutions for a more dynamic grid will also contribute to the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 7 of 'affordable, reliable and clean energy'," said Toshikazu Nishino.

The statement said the alliance with Hitachi will facilitate expansion opportunities for the new entity in areas such as mobility, smart cities, industry, energy storage and data centres, besides providing financial muscle to support ambitious projects and enabling access to Japan, the third largest economy in the world.

"Synergies and access to new and growing markets provided by Hitachi will help take Power Grids to the next stage of its development, further strengthening its leading position," said Timo Ihamuotila, CFO of ABB and Director of the Board of Hitachi ABB Power Grids. "Hitachi brings long-term commitment to the new entity and strengthens the existing business partnership between our companies," he added.

"Combining our respective technology strengths will bring us new market opportunities and enable us to deliver greater customer value," said Claudio Facchin, CEO, Hitachi ABB Power Grids. "We remain committed to powering good for a sustainable energy future, with pioneering and digital technologies, as the partner of choice for enabling a stronger, smarter and greener grid."

(Writing by Madhura Deulgaonkar; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com)

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