Orkla to sell solar businesses

(ADPnews) - Sep 9, 2010 - Norwegian industrial conglomerate Orkla ASA (OSL:ORK) is considering to sell its solar businesses to concentrate on its consumer goods and aluminum solutions, the firm's new CEO, Bjoern Wiggen, said on Wednesday.

Orkla named Bjoern Wiggen its new CEO, to replace Dag Opedal. "We’ll over time reduce our investment within the solar area", Wiggen said. Orkla's solar business is mainly associated with a 39.7% stake in Renewable Energy Corporation (OSL:REC), or REC. The company will wait for REC’s stock to improve, chairman Stein Erik Hagen added.

Orkla also holds 50% in Norwegian solar grade silicon producer Elkem AS. Elkem’s silicon unit is likely to be sold by the end of 2010 for about NOK 6 billion (USD 968m/EUR 761m), with the potential buyer being South Korea steel make Posco (SEO:005490). For REC, on the other hand, there is little chance to be sold until 2011, Preben Rasch-Olsen, an analyst at Swedish Carnegie Investment Bank AB, said.

(NOK 1000 = USD 161.345/EUR 126.926)

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