Reliance Acquires Solar Energy Firm REC Group For $771 million To Power Its Upcoming Gigafactory For Manufacturing Solar Panels And Cell

Reliance New Energy Solar Ltd (RNESL), a wholly owned subsidiary of energy-to-telecom behemoth Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), has announced today that it has acquired 100% shareholding of REC Solar Holdings AS (REC Group) from China National Bluestar (Group) Co Ltd., for an Enterprise Value of USD 771 million.

The company made the announcement as part of its filing to market regulator BSE.

Headquartered in Norway, REC Group is a leading solar energy company that manufactures solar cells and panels for solar power. The 25-year-old company has three manufacturing facilities – two in Norway for making solar grade polysilicon and one in Singapore making PV cells and modules.

With more than 1300 employee globally, REC’s Alpha and Alpha Pure range of solar modules are recognized as among industry leaders in efficiency, reliability and long guaranteed life.

Post the acquisition, Reliance plans to leverage RCE's technology in their fully integrated, metallic Silicon to photovoltaic panel manufacturing giga factory at Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex located at Jamnagar. Reliance will initially start with 4 GW per annum capacity and eventually growing to 10 GW per annum.

Reliance said that the acquisition of REC will help Reliance to expand and grow in key green energy markets globally, including in the US, Europe, Australia and elsewhere in Asia.

Commenting on the acquisition, Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries Limited, said: “I am immensely pleased with our acquisition of REC because it will help Reliance tap the unlimited and year-long power of Soorya Dev, the Sun God, that India is fortunate to be blessed with. It is in line with our strategy of investing in new and advanced technologies and operating capabilities aimed at achieving Reliance’s goal of enabling 100 GW clean and green energy before the end of this decade.

"Together with our other recent investments, Reliance is now ready to set up a global scale integrated Photovoltaic Giga factory and make India a manufacturing hub for lowest cost and highest efficiency solar panels." Ambani added.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has set a target for India to produce 450 GW renewable energy by 2030.

Reliance will also support REC’s own expansion plans, including 2GW to 3GW cells and module capacity in Singapore, a new 2GW cells and module unit in France, and another 1GW modules plant in the US.

Goldman Sachs acted as the financial adviser to Reliance, while Davis Polk & Wardwell provided legal advice to the group in the transaction, according to the Sunday statement.