Motech Industries, Inc. (Motech), a Taiwan-based solar PV cell manufacturer, and Topcell Solar International Co., Ltd. (TSi), a PV company dedicated to manufacturing and developing high efficiency PV cells, held respective board meetings and approved the merger agreement. Motech will be the surviving company with the same company name after the merger. The combined solar PV cell production capacity will expand up to 3GW, making the new company one of the world’s largest cell suppliers.
Under the terms of the merger agreement, 6 TSi common shares would be swapped for one Motech newly issued share. The merger will be scheduled after subjecting to receipts of regulatory and shareholder approvals and the closing date is tentatively scheduled on July 1st, 2015.
92% of TSi’s stake is held indirectly by United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC). The merger will make UMS the second largest shareholder, following Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (TSMC), with around 9% stake of the combined company.
The combined company’s PV cell production capacity can be increased up to 3GW and become one of the world’s largest cell manufacturers. Motech pointed in the announcement that the merger will integrate and utilize both companies’ resouces to achieve better operational efficiency and product quality. In addition, with enlarged economic scale, Motech will be able to create better profitability and to accelerate its global allocation.
Commenting the merger as a sensible move, Angus Kao, analyst of EnergyTrend, said: “Motech is levied the lowest rate of anti-dumping and countervailing tariffs at 11.45% among all manufacturers involved in the trade disputes, and this fact wins assets for Motech to expand its production capacity.” Adding that the cell orders from the U.S., China, Japan and Europe are expected to remain strong in the first quarter of 2015, Motech’s capacity expansion through the merger can help it to win more orders – which is a way much faster than purchasing new equipment or establishing new manufacturing facilities.
“Currently, there are no many large-scale PV cell manufacturer in China except the merged Hanwha SolarOne and Yingli with 3.28GW and 3.2 GW capacity respectively. The newly combined company and its 3GW capacity can help lower cost and increase high efficiency PV cells’ competitiveness in the global market,” added Kao.
