Amtech is to sell its solar-specialized unit and quit solar business

• The US manufacturer is about to sell its solar-focused subsidiary to Netherlands’ special purpose entity. This has been preceded by one year of unsuccessful negotiations with prospective purchasers.

Amtech Systems Inc. is selling shares of Tempress Group, a solar manufacturing division, to Netherlands-based SCT. The latter is to further sell the shares to another purchaser.

SCT is an entity specifically established for safekeeping shares of Dutch firms in order to protect them from hostile takeovers and for similar purposes.

This way, the Tempe-based semiconductor supplier is exiting solar business. The decision was taken a little more than a year ago, after financial difficulties its solar units had been facing. The firm was planning to sell Tempress by March 31 of this year.

However, until now, Amtech has not received any attractive offer, so the company has decided to transfer Tempress’s assets to SCT. This will enable the unit under sale to take time for restructuring and preparation for the future transaction. So far, the sub-company will get USD2.25m loan from the parent company.

After quitting solar industry, Amtech is going to pay more attention to manufacturing of semiconductors, with focus on LED and carborundum production.