Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Suntech Acquired Kuttler for Expansion in Germany

WUXI, Apr 23, 2008 (SinoCast via COMTEX) -- Chinese photovoltaic bellwether Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. just acquired a majority stake in KSL-Kuttler Automation Systems GmbH of Germany, preparing for production localization.

It is a landmark step to the Wuxi-based solar energy company to launch Germany, where the penetration of photovoltaic utilization is the highest around the world. It also signals that Chinese photovoltaic giants look beyond accepting orders to process and want to expand turf in the terminal markets themselves, insiders said.

As a global leading PCB machine manufacturer and vendor, Kuttler gives its helm to the Chinese buyer and in return, it gets access to the solar energy industry that it has been coveting for a long time.

Suntech will appoint a general manager taking charge of the day-to-day operations of Kuttler, and will build up a large workshop in Germany soon for the production of solar cells, providing considerable jobs at the same time.