TEL to Acquire Oerlikon Group’s Solar Assets
Not long ago, solar was a hot market. Fab tool and electronics materials vendors were scrambling to jump into the business.
But for some time, solar has been engulfed in a major downturn. Now, the market does not look so attractive. And some fab tool and electronics materials vendors have backtracked and exited the business.
Last month, for example, Japanese silicon wafer maker Sumco Corp. exited from the solar segment and dissolved its subsidiary in the arena. Now, the Oerlikon Group on Friday (March 2) said that it has divested its solar unit and will sell it to Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TEL) of Japan — a move that puts TEL in direct competition with Applied and others.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. “Oerlikon Solar faced extremely challenging market conditions characterized by production overcapacities, significant price declines and a general downturn of the industry as a whole,” according to the company in its annual results for 2011. “The segment suffered from lack of customer investment in solar module production lines and is thus reporting a loss for the year.”
Oerlikon Solar is headquartered in Trübbach, Switzerland and employs 675 people. It offers solar equipment and turnkey manufacturing lines for the mass production of thin film silicon solar modules. The Swiss company is said to have 870 MW of contracted capacity and 15 customers in production in seven countries.
Michael Buscher, CEO of Oerlikon Group, said: “The sale will give us the opportunity to focus on our high performing businesses, where we have critical mass, strong market positions and the potential to grow even further with increased profitability. We are convinced that this step is also the best solution for our employees as TEL is a strategic buyer aiming to develop a core solar business.”
Oerlikon is now focused on the machine and plant engineering arena, such as textile machines, thin-film coating, vacuum systems, drive systems and advanced technology.
Hiroshi Takenaka, president and CEO of TEL, said: “Over the past three years, we have confirmed Oerlikon Solar’s technological strength through our activities as a sales representative in the Asia and Oceania regions. TEL will take this opportunity to combine Oerlikon Solar’s expertise and TEL’s own semiconductor production equipment technologies that we have developed over many years to further improve performance.
“The establishment of operations in the photovoltaic power generation business, that is anticipated to demonstrate continued development in the future, is one part of TEL’s growth strategies, and we are also confident that we can contribute to the mitigation of global environmental issues in our role as a production equipment manufacturer,” he said.
Tags: Oerlikon Group, Solar Assets, TEL