Renewable

January 14 (Renewables Now) - REC Silicon ASA announced today that the transactions through which Hanwha Solutions Corp (KRX:009830) will acquire a 16.67% stake in the company should close next Wednesday as all conditions for completion have now been met.

The Norway-based polysilicon and silicon gas producer said that the waiting period under the US Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act has expired without objections or a request for additional information. As a result, the transactions are seen to wrap up on or about January 19.

As previously announced, Hanwha Solutions will subscribe for 48.2 million new REC Silicon shares in exchange for a total consideration of NOK 964 million (USD 111m/EUR 96.9mm), or NOK 20 apiece, and will also buy a further 21.89 million existing shares at the same price from Aker Horizons ASA (OSE:AKH). At completion, both Hanwha Solutions and Aker Horizons will own stakes of 16.67% in REC Silicon.

The Norwegian firm said that this investment will beef up its financial position and ensure it has the needed resources to reopen its Fluid Bed Reactor (FBR) facility in Moses Lake, Washington, where it used to manufacture granular polysilicon for solar applications. The funds will also allow it to pursue investment opportunities in Butte, Montana.

Hanwha Solutions, through its unit Q Cells, is a manufacturer and supplier of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules, with a 25% share of the US market, where it operates 1.7 GW of annual solar panel production capacity. Its future involvement with REC Silicon is part of a plan to establish a low-carbon solar value chain in the US.

(NOK 1.0 = USD 0.115/EUR 0.100)

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