Solar cell manufacturer China Sunergy (Nasdaq: CSUN) announced today an agreement to acquire 100% of the shares of two related module manufacturers, CEEG (Shanghai) Solar Science & Technology Co., Ltd and CEEG (Nan Jing) New Energy Co., Ltd.
China Sunergy said it will use funds on hand to purchase the companies
for a total of US$47 million.
The two companies will bring R&D, production, and sales and servicing units to China Sunergy, as well as combined annual production capacities of 220 megawatts (MW). Expansion plans are expected to lead to combined capacity of 470
MW by the middle of the year.
Both companies were controlled by China Electric Equipment Group Co.,
Ltd., a company controlled by Mr. Tingxiu Lu, China Sunergy’s chairman.
The companies have a sales network within the United States, Germany,
Spain, Italy, the Czech Republic and Southeast Asia.
“We look forward to realizing these strategies by bringing polycrystalline module manufacturing in-house and strengthening our competitive advantages within the solar sector.” Chairman Lu further explained: “Being vertically integrated will help to stabilize and increase margins in a possibly volatile environment, while representing a transformation towards a solution provider. We are reshaping the company from a single dimension manufacturing-oriented business into a platform with two pillars: technological innovation and a closer distribution channel to end customers. This acquisition will also positively impact China Sunergy’s customer composition, as we can further focus on providing value-added services to system installers and integrators.”
In September 2009, China Sunergy entered the Austrailian market for the first time.
