Another REC insider buys shares
REC Silicon/courtesy photo An aerial view of REC Silicon's Moses Lake plant. This week, REC Silicon's president/chief executive officer and a board member bought several shares in the company after about 100 people were laid off.
MOSES LAKE — Another REC Silicon insider has made a major share purchase in the silicon producer.
According to a news release from Norway-based REC, Ragnhild Wiborg, a member of the company’s board of directors, purchased 55,000 shares of the troubled company on Tuesday, July 4.
“After the transaction, Ragnhild Wiborg controls a total of 65,000 shares in the Company,” the news release said.
Wednesday, REC shares closed higher in trading on the Oslo Børs, Norway’s stock exchange, ending up at 80 øre, or 9.9 U.S. cents, after opening down at 72 øre per share, or around 8.9 cents per share.
REC ended trading Thursday down about 3 percent at 78 øre per share, or 9.7 cents, placing the total value of Wiborg’s share purchase at around $5,335. As of Thursday, her total stake is worth around $6,305.
Norwegian securities law requires publicly traded companies listed on the Oslobørs to report when “insiders” buy or sell significant shares of their company’s stock.
According to REC Silicon’s 2017 annual report, Wiborg has been a member of the board since 2013, and has “over 30 years’ experience in financial markets and an extensive network both within the international and Nordic business communities,” including managing her own investment fund.
She is also chair of the board of directors of EAMSolar, a publicly traded company also based in Norway that acquires and operates solar power plants. The company currently has six solar power plants in Italy, though it also has subsidiaries operating in the Netherlands and Myanmar.
The share deal is the latest insider purchase of REC following the announcement last weekend that a substantial portion of the company’s workforce — its production facilities are located in Moses Lake and Butte, Montana — would be laid off as a result of an ongoing trade dispute over polysilicon with China.
Earlier in the week, CEO Tore Torvund purchased 300,000 shares in REC, bringing his total take to roughly 1.6 million shares. Last February, Francine Sullivan, REC’s Vice President for business development, bought 32,000 shares of company stock, upping her stake in REC to 117,000 shares.
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com