MEMC increases ownership stake in Taiwanese wafer maker Eversol to 10.6%

MEMC Electronic Materials has increased its ownership interest in Eversol, a Taiwanese solar wafer manufacturer. The company now holds a 10.6% stake in the wafer-making firm.

In connection with the contract amendment between MEMC and Gintech Energy dated Sept. 22, MEMC bought Gintech’s 8.36% interest in Eversol at Gintech’s original cost. Then, in a subsequent transaction, as part of a recent capital raise by Eversol, MEMC invested another $5 million for an additional 5.1 million shares, which raised MEMC’s stake to the 10.6% mark.

“We are pleased to strengthen our strategic partnership with Eversol,” commented Ken Hannah, president of MEMC Solar Materials.  “In addition to our plans to bring solar wafer manufacturing capability in-house, MEMC is identifying strategic partners for solar wafer manufacturing."

"With a mix of internal and external solar wafering capacity, we can minimize fixed costs and maintain the flexibility to satisfy growing levels of demand," he continued. "As we implement this manufacturing strategy, we will continue to identify world-class strategic partners, such as Eversol.”

Welcoming MEMC as a major shareholder," Eversol chairman/CEO Calvin Ho said that "having access to MEMC’s worldwide supply chain and engineering systems will help us further reduce wafer manufacturing costs, which will spur additional demand for solar projects. MEMC’s deep expertise with silicon wafers will also help us to improve solar-cell efficiency and manufacturing yields. Eversol looks forward to working with MEMC engineers in jointly advancing solar wafer technology.”

In other M&A action, MEMC recently completed its acquisition of SunEdison.