GCL-Poly unveils $542 million wafer supply deal

GCL System Integration and energy services provider GCL System Integration (Suzhou) will buy roughly 650 million polysilicon and monocrystalline wafers from GCL-Poly Suzhou, a wholly owned group subsidiary of GCL-Poly Energy, subject to conditions set out in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange. GCL-Poly Energy Chairman Zhu Gongshan and his associates hold shares in Shenzhen-listed GCL System Integration.

The one-year deal will commence from January 2018, with a purchasing cap of up to CNY 3.59 billion. GCL System Integration and GCL System Integration (Suzhou) have already paid a deposit of CNY 50 million to GCL-Poly Suzhou.

The three parties will negotiate the prices of the wafers on a monthly basis throughout the calendar year. According to the terms of their new framework agreement, the arrangement will expire at the end of December 2018.

GCL-Poly Energy reported a net profit of CNY 1.19 billion for the first half of this year, down 13% year on year, as revenue from its solar materials business fell to CNY 9.3 billion, down 17% from the first six months of 2016. Its total installed PV capacity hit 5.08 GW at the end of June. Earlier this week, the group revealed that Taiping Financial Holdings has agreed to set up an investment fund with a fund size of approximately HK$8 billion ($1.02 billion) to invest in one of its subsidiaries, GCL New Energy.