Increasing Synergy Effect
The Hanwha Group will merge Hanwha Solar One and Hanwha Q Cells, two of the subsidiaries of Hanwha Chemical, to reshape its photovoltaic power generation business. According to the plan, Hanwha Solar One is to fully own Hanwha Q Cells through new stock issuance.
The main office of the new company is to be located in Seoul and the existing headquarters of Hanwha Q Cells in Germany will be turned into the Technology & Innovation Headquarters. The merger process will be wrapped up before the end of the first quarter of 2015.
Once the process is completed, the merged corporation will become the world’s number one photovoltaic cell supplier with a manufacturing capacity of 3.28 GW. At present, all of the companies having a capacity of over 3 GW in the industry are Chinese and therefore subject to the anti-dumping regulations of the United States. The new company, however, is expected to be able to diversify its manufacturing bases to Malaysia, Germany, China, and many more, while supplying products of the best quality based on Germany’s technological strength in the sector.
The business consolidation is to be carried out solely by stock transfer, without any additional investment, and thus Hanwha Chemical can maximize the advantage. Its financial structure is predicted to be improved a lot as well.
Hanwha Solar One, acquired by the Hanwha Group in August 2010, is a NASDAQ-listed company. Its main office is in Shanghai, and it is running 800 MW ingot and wafer manufacturing lines, 1.75 GW cell production lines, and 2.3 GW module production lines in China. Its 230 MW module manufacturing lines are to be built in Eumseong, North Chungcheong Province, before May 2015, too.
Hanwha Q Cells was acquired by the group two years ago. The headquarters and R&D center are in Thalheim, Germany. It has 1.53 GW cell manufacturing lines in Germany and Malaysia, and is working on 1.1 GW module production lines in the Malaysian plant for commercial operation from 2016.