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By Park Jae-hyuk
POSCO Energy decided to sell its 2.9 percent stake in FuelCell Energy during a Nov. 12 meeting of the firm's board of directors, the company said Wednesday.
According to industry sources, the energy producer also sent notification to the U.S. fuel cell power company Nov. 7 that it would not continue their negotiations for investment attraction.
The two were in discussions about ways to attract strategic investors to pay for the restructuring of POSCO Energy's sluggish fuel cell business in Korea.
However, they reportedly failed to reach an agreement on prerequisites.
"Over the past two years, POSCO Energy had negotiated with FuelCell Energy about ways to attract strategic investors for the normalization of its fuel cell business in Korea, but FuelCell Energy had been uncooperative about technology licensing and component supplies," said an industry source who declined to be named.
"FuelCell Energy's uncooperative behavior apparently caused uncertainty and interrupted the establishment of a joint venture. It seems that the troubles led POSCO Energy to make the decision to sell the stake it had bought for technical cooperation."
POSCO Energy said it will continue its fuel cell business despite the breakdown in negotiations.
According to the company, its clients will be able to be provided with POSCO Energy's services continuously, based on the licensing agreement between POSCO Energy and FuelCell Energy.
POSCO Energy invested $84 million in FuelCell Energy, at the time it began its fuel cell business in 2007 with the U.S. partner's molten-carbonate fuel cell (MCFC), a high-temperature fuel cell that operates at temperatures of 600 degrees Celsius and above.
However, POSCO Energy's operating losses have accumulated since defects were found in the key component of the U.S. partner's fuel cell generator.
The declining shares of FuelCell Energy also weighed on POSCO Energy.
