Insolvent solar manufacturer Q-Cells SE has been bought by a subsidiary of Hanwha Chemical Corporation, one of the largest South Korean corporations with 2011 sales of USD 31.6 billion. The formalities were completed on 19 October. The takeover, says administrator Henning Schorisch, provides Q-Cells with a strong partner giving it access to new technologies and new markets.
The purchase agreement was signed on 26 August 2012 with creditors approving the deal on 29 August. Q-Cells SE had originally filed for insolvency on 3 April, but the insolvency administrator managed to reactivate business operations. During the following months sales revenues improved and production went back to multiple shifts. As a consequence, jobs losses within the company were kept to 20%, despite the insolvency proceedings. The process to find new investors was started, and the option of an insolvency plan was assessed and presented to the creditors.
'This is particularly positive news as the solar industry in Germany, but also globally, is currently going through a crisis and many companies are facing failure,' Henning Schorisch commented. 'In Hanwha, Q-Cells found a new owner committed to the locations in Saxony-Anhalt and Berlin.'
Following Solon (bought earlier this year by Indian firm Microsol) and Solibro (a Q-Cells subsidiary bought by China’s Hanergy Corp) Q-Cells is the third German solar company this year to have been bought by Asian rivals.
Hanwha takes over a large part of the Q-Cells Group. In Germany, this includes the site in Bitterfeld-Wolfen (solar cell and module research, development and production) as well as the sales location in Berlin; abroad, it includes the site in Malaysia with about 500 employees as well as the sales companies in the USA, Japan and Australia. The integration process entailed job cuts in Q-Cells' administration depart-ment, owing to overlap with Hanwha, as well as in production, due to progress in modernising the production line at the Thalheim site.
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