5N Plus acquires majority stake in maker of germanium substrates for CPV cells
Tuesday, January 11th, 2011This is an interesting acquisition by Montreal-based 5N Plus. Sylarus, a company based in Utah that makes germanium substrates for solar cells, has been an important customers for 5N, which as a supplier of high-purity metals is a producer of purified germanium. 5N has basically converted a $3 million (U.S.) debenture it had with Sylarus into stock, giving 5N two-thirds ownership in the company. Greentech Media has a story about the deal here. 5N, of course, is the leading supplier of tellurium to thin-film solar cell makers First Solar and Abound Solar and others.
Lots of news to report from the Great White North, where we’ve got a great stable of cleantech companies — even if they are generally underappreciated and underfunded. Speaking of underfunded, I’d just like to highlight that Canadian cleantech companies 
Tyler Hamilton is editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and a business columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the clean technology and green energy market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper.
