Anchor AS becomes majority shareholder in REC Silicon

MOSES LAKE — Enough shareholders responded to an offer to buy outstanding shares of REC Silicon to increase the proportion of shares owned by Anchor AS to more than 50%. Anchor AS is a subsidiary of the Hanwa Group, which owned about 45% of REC Silicon previously. 

Anchor AS purchased about 15% of REC’s outstanding shares, giving them a 58.76% share of the company, according to a press release issued Aug. 29.  

REC Silicon received two loans from the Hanwa Group in August, which were designed to provide enough money to keep the company operating, according to a previous press release.  

“REC Silicon does not have sufficient available cash to meet debt service and other anticipated operating cash flow requirements for the year without the continued support of the major shareholder, Hanwa, or additional sources of capital,” the press release said.  

The company’s Moses Lake facility closed in December 2024. Kurt Levens, REC president and chief executive officer, said in the 2024 annual report that REC officials are planning to keep its Moses Lake plant, at least for now. 

“While our primary focus is on silicon gas production at Butte, we are also preserving the optionality of restarting the Moses Lake silane facility when market demand, particularly from silicon anode manufacturers or other emerging applications, reaches a level that justifies resuming production,” Levens said.  

A new board of directors was elected in June, then completely replaced in early August. Tae Won Jun was named the board chair and the board was reduced from five members to three. 

The Moses Lake facility produced polysilicon materials. It was closed in 2019 and partially reopened in 2022. According to a previous report in the Columbia Basin Herald, the restart was the result of an agreement with Hanwa Solutions, a solar panel maker in South Korea. Hanwa Solutions purchased about 21% of REC in late 2021 and early 2022. The Moses Lake facility's future remains unknown.