Sharp Sells Recurrent to Canadian Solar for $265 Million

(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

cwatanabe5@bloomberg.net;

Grace Huang in Tokyo at

xhuang66@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:

Will Wade at

wwade4@bloomberg.net

Iain Wilson, Peter Langan

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