Sharp Corp plans to sell Recurrent Energy LLC for ¥25 billion (US$321 million) as part of a restructuring plan, the Kyodo News agency reported yesterday.
Osaka, Japan-based Sharp paid US$305 million in 2010 for a 100 percent stake in Recurrent Energy, a solar project developer. The San Francisco-based company has a portfolio of 500 megawatts of solar projects awarded and a development pipeline of 2.5 gigawatts, according to a company Web site.
The sale is included in a restructuring at Sharp that will include the elimination of 10,966 jobs by the end of March 2014, Kyodo said.
Sharp spokeswoman Miyuki Nakayama declined to comment on the Kyodo report.
The Japanese company is part of a group behind Italy’s largest solar manufacturing facility in Sicily. The venture between Enel Green Power, the renewables unit of Italian utility Enel SpA, Sharp and STMicroelectronics NV was inaugurated last year with an initial production capacity of 160 megawatts a year.
As part of Sharp’s reorganization, the company’s two main banks plan to back a revival package from the Japanese television maker and will contribute about ¥360 billion in loans, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
Mizuho Financial Group Inc and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc plan to approve the package presented on Monday by Sunday, the people said, asking not to be identified before an announcement has been made.
Resona Holdings Inc and Nippon Life Insurance Co may join the consortium providing the loans, Kyodo reported, without citing anyone.
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