Recom acquires French module maker Sillia

Recom Italia, the Italian unit of Germany-based solar manufacturer Recom, was chosen as preferred bidder for the acquisition of French module producer Sillia VL, which filed for insolvency in early March. The announcement was given in a statement of the Tribunal of Commerce of Lyon. Another offer from French company FJBJ was considered less credible than that submitted by the Italian company.

Recom’s offer was limited to the acquisition of Sillia’s 50 MW production site in Lannion, in northwestern France, and did not include the 150 MW Venissieux’s factory, in the east of the country, which Sillia acquired in joint venture with French developer Urbasolar from Bosch in mid-2014.

The 128 employees at the facility in Venissieux will receive severance payments from the German group, while the 44 workers at the factory in Lannion will maintain their jobs.

The employees at the Lannion’s facility published a video on Youtube in April to support the search for potential investors. In the video, a representative of the company said it had a potential order intake of 300 MW.

Recom operates solar module manufacturing facilities in Italy, Poland, South Korea. The company, which claims it is currently the second largest PV module manufacturing company in Europe, has also developed large-scale PV projects as EPC contractor in Hungary, Romania, Cyprus, Nicaragua and Dominican Republic among others.