The world's largest producer of solar cells, Q-Cells (QCE.DE) sold its entire stake in Norwegian solar wafer company Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) (REC.OL), raising EUR 530 million ($706 million), the company announced on Wednesday.
The shareholding of Q-Cells (84,956,767 shares) amounted to approximately 17.2% of REC’s outstanding share capital.
Q-Cells shares rose 8.5% to close at EUR 20.59, according to a Bloomberg report. This, despite mixed opinions from analysts.
Some suggested the sale of the stake was a strong move to raise needed capital and will allow the company to more aggressively renegotiate wafer contracts with REC. Others noted that Q-Cells will no longer be able to list REC's earnings on its balance sheet.
Q-Cells and REC remain partners in a joint venture with Massachusetts-based Evergreen Solar (NasdaqGM: ESLR). The joint venture is called Sovello AG (formerly EverQ).
Last week, Q-Cells said its subsidiary Sontor will merge with Sunfilm to create one of the world's largest producers of thin film silicon solar modules, to be called Sunfilm AG.
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