The old polysilicon factory is caught in the storm of "internal strife"!

On June 25, Water Street Capital,

Inc., the second largest shareholder of REC Silicon, a veteran polysilicon manufacturer, responded. Several foreign media have reported that REC Silicon has launched an investigation into the closure of the polysilicon plant in Moses Lake, Washington, USA.

Among them, Solar Power World reported that minority shareholders of REC Silicon had filed a petition in the U.S. court requesting information about the involvement of Hanwha Group, the largest shareholder of REC Silicon, in the company's business.

The petition alleges that Hanwha deliberately obstructed the company's polysilicon manufacturing operations in Moses Lake, Washington, USA, in order to gain full ownership of the company.

It is reported that REC Silicon's Moses Lake plant was built in 1984 with a polysilicon production capacity of 1. In March 2019, the plant ceased operation and was officially closed in March 2020.

Although REC Silicon has announced the restart of the plant since 2022, it was not until September 2024 that the plant was actually restarted. The main driving force behind this is Hanhua Group, which not only bought 21% of REC Silicon to become the largest shareholder. It also signed a 10-year , $ 3 billion polysilicon procurement contract with REC Silicon.

However, less than three months after the restart, REC Silicon had no choice but to announce that it would stop production at the plant again . At that time, REC Silicon said that the main reason was product quality. In early December

2024, REC Silicon received a " failed qualification test " report from the customer (Hanwha). This was because "the crystallinity and ingot yield observed in the test run were lower than expected, which the customer considered unacceptable at this stage of the production process ." REC Silicon said its customers could no longer wait for compliant products to be delivered . The procurement contract was subsequently terminated. With no other customers in the United States and limited customers outside of China, the best option is to stop production altogether

, REC Silicon said. After

the termination of the contract, Hanwha not only did not give up REC Silicon, but also wanted to further wholly acquire the company.In April

2025, Hanwha Group announced that it would pay 2 per share, which means that the total value of REC Silicon's share capital is 925 million Norwegian kroner (about 0.

REC Silicon's board, which is largely represented by Hanwha, "unanimously recommended" that shareholders accept the Hanwha deal. Opposition to the deal was quickly voiced by Norwegian minority shareholders, who sent a letter demanding " an end to this predatory behaviour ".

Water Street alleged that Hanwha made misleading statements to other shareholders in the REC Silicon's, " [Hanwha] failed to disclose that it disrupted operations at the Moses Lake plant, fired experienced employees at the plant, and continually changed production procedures." And deliberately caused REC Silicon to fail key tests on the quality of its products as an excuse to terminate the 10-year supply contract ".".

Water Street said Hanwha was able to start buying cheaply when REC Silicons' share price collapsed after the plant closed in December 2024.

According to the latest news on REC Silicon's official website, Hanwha Group recently wrote that it would not provide any further loans to REC Silicon until the offer was completed. The acceptance period for the offer is extended to 16:30 (CEST) on 8 July 2025 and the offer price will not be increased.