BEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Meyer Burger Technology Ltd, a leading global technology company in solar as well as semiconductor and optoelectronic industries, announced that it would sell its PV and specialized materials (e.g. semiconductor and sapphire glass industries) wafering equipment and service business to U.S. Precision Surfacing Solutions (PSS), a global supplier of equipment and services for surface enhancement technology.
As part of the transaction, significant parts of Meyer Burger’s current production facilities in Thun as well as around 100 employees involved in the wafering technology portfolio in Thun and the relevant service locations worldwide will be transferred to PSS, reported the Shanghai Securities News citing company announcement.
Closing of the transaction is expected to be completed towards the end of the first quarter of 2019 with agreed purchase price being 50 million Swiss Franc in cash.
Although growing from its roots in the wafering industry, Meyer Burger’s main focus today is on PV cell coating and module connection technologies, according to Hans Brändle, CEO of Meyer Burger, noting that as the new owner of the company’s wafering portfolio and with its presence in the semiconductor industry, PSS is ideally positioned to fully maximize the synergies with Meyer Burger’s wafering technologies.
But industry observers attribute the spin-off move to dropping sales due to the rising of relevant equipments domestically made in China. The breakthrough in diamond wire saw technology made by China Wuxi Shangji Automation and technological upgrades by GCL-Poly have made foreign equipments less competitive in the market, they say. (Edited by Niu Huizhe, niuhuizhe@xinhua.org)
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