Johnson Controls in joint hybrid auto venture, $2.5B debt offer

Johnson Controls, the largest Wisconsin public company by revenue, has officially launched a previously announced partnership with a French company to make batteries for hybrid vehicles. It has also made a commercial debt offering totaling $2.5 billion, to refinance an acquisition of a building controls company it bought in December.

As previously reported on WTN, Johnson Controls established a $4 million development facility in Glendale, Wisconsin, to push forward its hybrid-electric vehicle business.

The partnership with Saft in Paris will focus on two kinds of batteries, nickel metal hydride, which are now used in hybrid vehicles, and lithium-ion, which the companies hope to commercialize further because, they said, it has greater power in a smaller-sized battery.

Business Journal of Milwaukee: Johnson Controls launches joint venture; prices $2.5B debt offer