Hanwha Solutions once again reduced the size of its paid-in capital increase. It appears to reflect the Financial Supervisory Service's successive pushback.
Hanwha Solutions said on the 26th that its board approved a revision to cut the paid-in capital increase from 1.8 trillion won to 1.7 trillion won. Hanwha Solutions submitted a voluntary amended registration statement reflecting this to the Financial Supervisory Service.
With this adjustment, the scheduled debt repayment amount was further reduced by 100 billion won to 800 billion won from 900 billion won. Hanwha Solutions had initially planned to allocate 1.5 trillion won to debt repayment, but cut it to 900 billion won in the first adjustment and reduced it again this time.
In contrast, it will maintain the investment amount related to the solar business. Hanwha Solutions will keep its original plan for 900 billion won in future core growth investments, including 100 billion won to upgrade a pilot line for perovskite tandem, a next-generation solar technology, and 800 billion won to build a tandem mass-production line and expand TOPCon production capacity.
Hanwha Solutions plans to cover the funding shortfall caused by the reduced paid-in capital increase by selling a U.S. venture investment fund. Since 2022, Hanwha Solutions has invested in the fund through a subsidiary to track market and technology trends in future industries such as North American energy and the circular economy and to secure early business opportunities.
Hanwha Solutions said, "Although we had not considered selling the fund as a short-term liquidity tool given its nature as a long-term investment to discover innovative companies, we re-examined ways to use it as part of additional self-help measures."
Hanwha Solutions added that the additional reduction in the paid-in capital increase reflects demands from shareholders and the market following the submission of the second amended securities registration statement. As a result, the issuance ratio fell to about 30% from about 32%, and the number of shares allocated per one existing share also decreased to about 0.2465 share from about 0.2605 share.
The amended registration statement also adds detailed enhancements to investment risk factors that authorities have focused on and the results of legal reviews of the decision-making process.
Nam Jeong-un, head of the Hanwha Solutions Chemical division, and Park Seung-deok, head of the Qcells division, said, "We take seriously that we fell short of meeting shareholders' expectations and standards during the paid-in capital increase process," and added, "Securing a sustainable growth base and improving our financial structure are tasks that cannot be delayed any longer, so we will resolve the market undervaluation and enhance shareholder value."