According to industry sources on May 15, Hanwha Solutions announced in a correction disclosure that it has changed the date for determining the new stock issuance price from early June to July 7. The subscription period for existing shareholders will run from July 10 to 13, with the new shares expected to be listed on July 31.
The scale of the rights offering and the purpose of the funds remain the same. The company plans to issue 600,000 new shares, representing a 32.10% increase. The total amount to be raised is 1.8 trillion won, with an expected issuance price of 32,400 won per share. Of this, approximately 907.7 billion won will be used for facility funds, while the remaining 906.7 billion won will go toward debt repayment.
Initially, Hanwha Solutions aimed for a rights offering of 2.4 trillion won. The company explained that improving its financial structure was essential to avoid a credit rating downgrade due to the deteriorating global solar and chemical market. However, regulatory intervention forced the company to reduce the offering size to 1.8144 trillion won.
During the rights offering process, financial authorities have repeatedly questioned whether there are alternative funding methods aside from the rights offering. On May 11, Hwang Seon-o, deputy director of the Financial Supervisory Service, stated, "There was insufficient explanation regarding whether Hanwha Solutions truly has no other means of raising funds apart from the rights offering."
In the first review of the rights offering, the Financial Supervisory Service raised concerns about why Hanwha Solutions was pursuing a rights offering despite holding a significant amount of non-operational assets. Subsequently, the company revised the offering size down to approximately 1.8 trillion won from the previous amount.
However, similar criticisms arose during the second review. The Financial Supervisory Service assessed that the company lacked sufficient disclosure. They also questioned the 5 trillion won worth of non-operational assets, including real estate and shares in other companies, held by Hanwha Solutions.
Hanwha Solutions stated, "This revised disclosure includes plans for selling non-core assets, capital raising strategies, anticipated benefits from the Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credit (AMPC), and long-term profit and loss estimates."
With the additional explanations in the revised disclosure, attention is focused on whether the rights offering will pass this time. Some analysts suggest that Hanwha Group, the parent company, may need to participate in the rights offering with an amount larger than the debt repayment amount to ensure its success.
Hanwha Group is expected to participate in the rights offering with about 843.9 billion won, which is less than the 906.7 billion won needed for debt repayment. This has fueled the narrative of using shareholder money to pay off debts. In contrast, SKC recently confirmed its final issuance price, with its parent company, SK, investing 6.295 trillion won, exceeding the 5.775 trillion won debt repayment amount.
Industry analysts warn that if Hanwha Solutions' newly submitted revised disclosure is rejected again, the entire rights offering could be jeopardized. A representative from Hanwha Solutions remarked, "We have made every effort to address the concerns raised by shareholders, the media, and the Financial Supervisory Service regarding the issues they identified."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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