Borosil Renewables buys Interfloat Group

New Delhi: India's first solar glass manufacturer Borosil Renewables Ltd has acquired 86 per cent stake in Europe's largest solar glass manufacturer Interfloat Group for an undisclosed sum of money.

"With its acquisition of the Interfloat Group, BRL's solar glass manufacturing capacity will grow to 750 tonnes per day from the current 450 TPD, an increase of 66 per cent," the company said in a statement. This capacity of the combined entity will further increase to 1,300 TPD by year end with the commissioning of a new furnace with a capacity of 550 TPD in India. "This acquisition will make a wider range of solar glass available to BRL's expanded customer base in Europe. Borosil leverages its highly efficient production technology to bring greater productivity and a lower carbon footprint to the European entity," it said.

Interfloat Group consists of two companies -- GMB Glasmanufaktur Brandenburg GmbH (GMB), based in Tschernitz, Germany, and Interfloat Corporation, based in Liechtenstein. GMB is the largest producer of textured tempered solar glass in Europe with a current manufacturing capacity of 300 TPD. It has manufactured glass for Europe's solar (solar PV as well as solar thermal) and greenhouse glass markets since 2008.

"With this acquisition, BRL's combined manufacturing capacity in India and Europe would be available to meet a wide range of requirements including sizes varying textures, coatings, dimensions, and thickness. This acquisition will also accelerate investments in new products and technology development benefiting customers," the statement said. BRL plans to add further capacity with the next expansion growing to 2,100 TPD in 2024. "Borosil is committed to investing in manufacturing in Europe and will be increasing capacity at GMB's Tschernitz plant at an appropriate time in the near future. This means that BRL and Interfloat will be able to supply significantly higher volumes of solar glass to their present and new customers by improving the serviceability as a result of the production from two locations now," it said.

Pradeep Kheruka, Executive Chairman of Borosil Renewables Ltd, said, "The extreme crisis now being faced not only in Europe but across the world from sudden disruption in the supply of natural gas has given great impetus to the urgent requirement for solar installations. The demand for domestically manufactured solar PV modules has increased significantly leading to a higher demand for solar glass by our European customers."

"In the light of substantial expansion in our capacity in India, we expect to enhance the reliability of our supply chains for our customers. We believe that by leveraging the existing synergies and several complementary skill sets offered by the two companies, we will be able to serve our customers better. We continue to strongly believe that this acquisition moves us closer to our vision of being the most customer-centric company in the world," he said.