(Bloomberg) — Sharp Corp. will sell its Recurrent solar
operation to a U.S. unit of Canadian Solar Inc. for $265
million, or 13 percent less than it paid five years ago, in the
latest move to scale back operations outside Japan.
Sharp paid $305 million for San Francisco-based solar-development unit Recurrent Energy LLC in 2010 and had been
looking for a buyer since at least September. The sale will be
completed in March, Sharp said in a statement today as it also
forecast an annual loss of 30 billion yen ($257 million).
The exit further frees Osaka-based Sharp to focus on its
home market, which has grown following the introduction in 2012
of incentives to build clean energy projects. Outside the
country, the company has been facing competition from cheaper
panels made by Chinese rivals.
Recurrent, founded in 2006, has developed and sold more
than 520 megawatts of solar projects and has a project pipeline
of 3.3 gigawatts and 1.1 gigawatts in signed contracts, with
developments across North America including California and
Texas, according to its website
“We are excited that our vision for Recurrent Energy’s
path forward is very much aligned with that of Canadian Solar,”
Recurrent Chief Executive Officer Arno Harris said in a
statement. “It was critical for us to find a counterparty that
saw the value of our team, our project development platform and
our project pipeline.”
Interests Transferred
Sharp will transfer all interests in Recurrent Energy,
which it owns through Sharp U.S. Holding Inc., to Canadian Solar
Energy Acquisition Co., a U.S unit of Canadian Solar.
The purchase expands Canadian Solar’s project pipeline to
8.5 gigawatts, Canadian Solar said in a separate statement.
Though based in Guelph, Ontario, Canadian Solar makes most of
its products in China.
“Canadian Solar is going to continue to operate Recurrent
as an independent entity, much like we have with Sharp,” David
Brochu, chief operating officer at Recurrent Energy, said in a
phone interview. Recurrent will source solar panels
competitively and consider using those made by their new parent,
he said.
Sharp last year withdrew from an Italian solar venture, the
company’s last overseas panel manufacturing plant, shortly after
announcing that it would give up its half share of a separate
undertaking with Enel Green Power to develop solar projects.
Sharp, which has been developing solar panels since 1959,
stopped making panels at plants in the U.S. and U.K. earlier
last year.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Chisaki Watanabe in Tokyo at
Grace Huang in Tokyo at
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Will Wade at
Iain Wilson, Peter Langan