Despite pushback from minority shareholders, Hanwha now has a majority stake in REC Silicon. The majority share was acquired in early September by Anchor AS, a Norwegian outfit representing Hanwha Solutions and Hanwha Corp. Hanwha acquired all outstanding shares in REC Silicon at its offer price of NOK 2.2 (US $0.21) per share.
Thus puts a temporary pin in the ongoing saga involving REC Silicon, formerly one of the world’s largest producers of polysilicon. The Norwegian company operated a solar polysilicon plant in Moses Lake, Washington, before market events forced its closure in 2018. In 2022, Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group became REC Silicon’s largest shareholder, providing cash to restart production and a secure polysilicon supply contract to the Hanwha Qcells solar panel manufacturing operation in Georgia. REC Silicon was in the process of restarting polysilicon production at Moses Lake when it abruptly ceased all operations in late 2024.
REC Silicon stated that it was unable to continue operations in Moses Lake after it received an “unsuccessful qualification test” by its “customer.” At the time, Hanwha was considered to be REC Silicon’s only customer, as it had an exclusive 10-year supply deal.
In April 2025, Hanwha sent an all-cash offer to acquire all outstanding shares of REC Silicon and take the company private. REC Silicon’s board of directors, largely represented by Hanwha seats, “unanimously recommended” that shareholders accept Hanwha’s deal. Norwegian minority shareholders very quickly voiced their opposition to the deal, writing a letter to “stop the steal.”
Water Street Capital, an investment firm representing minority shareholders, claimed that Hanwha made misleading statements to REC Silicon’s other shareholders by “failing to disclose that it has sabotaged the operations at the Moses Lake facility, terminated the plant’s experienced employees, continuously changed production procedures and intentionally caused REC Silicon to fail a crucial test of its product’s quality as a pretext to terminate the 10-year supply contract.” Once REC Silicon’s stock price collapsed after the plant shutdown in December 2024, Water Street says that Hanwha was able to commence a takeover bid for “pennies on the dollar.”
At an annual general meeting in June, REC Silicon shareholders voted in a new board of directors that included Norwegian representatives and removed Hanwha names. Minority shareholders also requested an internal investigation.
But now it seems things have been ironed out. Hanwha’s takeover bid was approved, and Hanwha proposed new board members seemingly with Water Street’s blessing. Hanwha said that the new board “put(s) emphasis on stability and prior knowledge of the company’s operations.” REC Silicon announced on Oct. 15 that Norwegian courts ruled to dismiss the internal investigation request made by minority shareholders in June.
Meanwhile, REC Silicon as an operational business is still treading water. Earlier this month, Anchor AS provided REC Silicon with a $7 million short-term loan to fund the company’s “urgent operational capital needs.”
“REC Silicon does not have sufficient available cash to meet debt service and other anticipated operating cash flow requirements going forward without the continued support of the major shareholder, Hanwha, or additional sources of capital,” said REC Silicon in a statement. “Therefore, it will soon require additional financing beyond this loan, either from Hanwha or from other sources of capital, none of which have yet been finalized or guaranteed.”
This loan is separate from earlier loans provided by Hanwha International LLC, which now exceed $103 million.
There have been no announcements yet regarding whether or not polysilicon operations will be restarted in Moses Lake.
