South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc. is offering to buy Austrian automotive light maker ZKW Group known to value around $1 billion in a bid to reinforce its automotive electronics division in preparation for automated driving era.

According to industry sources Tuesday, LG Electronics and its holding company LG Corp. together have placed a bid for ZKW.

The Korean tech giant declined to confirm its bid and said in a disclosure statement that “nothing has been finalized,” adding that it will make an announcement within a month if progress has been made.

As of 1:50 p.m. Wednesday, shares of LG Electronics jumped 9 percent at 81,000 won.

Japan’s Panasonic Corp., which currently supplies electric car batteries to Tesla, is also known to have taken part in the auction. The preferred bidder for the deal is expected to be selected as early as next month.

The Korean tech giant’s decision to bid for the Austrian auto lighting manufacturer despite its high price reflects the management’s strong determination to expand its auto electronics business, according to company insiders. LG Group Vice Chairman Koo Bon-joon has been tending to the auto electronics business himself after naming it as one of the group’s new growth drivers.

Founded in 1938, ZKW Group is a global automotive light manufacturer with production bases in Austria, Slovakia, China and Mexico. It has nearly 6,000 employees worldwide and supplies to major global finished carmakers including BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen. It raked in 968.5 million euros ($1.16 billion) in sales in the 2016 fiscal year, growing 25 percent on year and more than threefold compared to 2010.

If LG succeeds in acquiring ZKW, it is expected to leap forward in the global auto electronics business, said Noh Kyeong-tak, analyst at Eugene Investment & Securities Co. The buyout would also allow LG to produce full auto electronics parts through its affiliates, he added. Currently LG Display Co. produces auto displays, LG Chem electric vehicle batteries and LG Innotek Co. motors and telecommunications equipment.

The recent bid comes after LG Electronics’ failed attempt last year to buy the light division of Magneti Marelli, the auto parts unit of Italy’s Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Industry sources said the talks fell through because the Italian firm refused a partial sale while LG Electronics found the price too high.

This time, LG Electronics is confident of sealing the deal after winning in a number of foreign merger and acquisition deals with the backing of its holding company LG. In 2012, they succeeded in buying a 51 percent stake in U.K.’s Rolls-Royce Fuel Cell Systems for $45 million.

By Chung Seung-hwan and Lee Dong-in

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