(Opinion) The Merrimack Valley runs on trust, not just transactions
Today’s consumers don’t just want convenience. They expect it, whether it is speed, digital tools, quick answers, and the ability to do routine tasks from their phones.
GT acquires Missouri solar tech firm
GT Advanced Technologies has acquired Confluence Solar Inc., a three-year old privately held Missouri company, in an $80 million cash deal that will give the New Hampshire-based firm the technology to enable it to manufacture furnaces that more efficiently make solar cells.Confluence, based in Hazelwood, Mo., outside St. Louis, started in 2008 after landing a $12 million venture capital investment. But the company — after getting some initial tax credits from its home state — irked local officials by deciding to build a $200 million manufacturing facility in East Tennessee.GT, of Merrimack, N.H., was interested in Confluence’s continuously-fed Czochralski (CCz) growth technology, which enables the production of high-efficiency monocrystalline solar ingots. GT bought the Confluence for $60 million in cash, with an additional $20 million of cash earn-outs payable upon the achievement of certain financial and technical milestones through GT’s fiscal year 2013. — BOB SANDERS/NEW HAMPSHIRE BUSINESS REVIEW
