A graceful exit in Switzerland

Applied Materials continued its quest for solar equipment world domination this week.

The company's acqusition of HCT Shaping Systems, below, "is part of its strategy to accelerate customers' ability to reduce the costs of photovoltaic (PV) cell manufacturing," it said, as benignly and anti-competitively as possible.

Here's where money was flowing this week in the cleantech sector:

• Applied Materials paid $475 million in cash this week for HCT Shaping Systems, a privately-held company based in Switzerland. HCT is a leading supplier of precision wafering systems for making crystalline silicon (c-Si) substrates for the solar industry. Applied also announced that Green Energy Technology of Taiwan is the latest company to come forward awarding it a contract for its forthcoming ultra-large 5.7m2 thin film glass panel manufacturing equipment (see other wins here.)
• Nviro Cleantech is soon to be seeking £12 million on the London AIM to develop processes for cleaning coal and recycling fibres. The company has a clean coal process that it's developing jointly with a Chinese group, and a special approach to recycling medium-density fibers. Fairfax is broker to the flotation, which should value Nviro at £20 million. Accountant Grant Thornton is nominated adviser. Its IPO is expected in July.
• ZhongDe Waste Technology AG is gearing up to go public in Europe. ZhongDe is one of the leading suppliers of medical waste incinerators and small- and mid-sized incinerators for the disposal of municipal solid waste in China. The offering is to consist of a public offering on Germany's Frankfurt Stock Exchange and in Luxembourg, as well as private placements to institutional investors outside Germany, Luxembourg and the United States.
• Solar thin-film developer Energy Photovoltaics of Princeton, New Jersey raised a $77.5mm round of senior secured notes as part of a Series B round of financing. Jefferies & Company acted as the sole placement agent for EPV, which plans to use the proceeds to increase its manufacturing capacity. Unnamed VCs and other institutional investors participated in the financing.
• Stion, a Menlo Park, California-based thin film photovoltaics company formerly known as NStructures, raised $15 million in Series B funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the deal, and was joined by General Catalyst Partners and return backers Khosla Ventures, Braemar Energy Ventures and Moser Baer Photovoltaic.
• Automotive fuel cell and related technologies company Quantum Fuel Systems raised a private placement of $18.75 million. Quantum will sell a total of 12.5 million shares at $1.50 per share, representing a discount from the June 21, 2007 closing price of $2.09. Investors will also receive warrants to purchase approximately 15.0 million shares of common stock at $2.09 per share. Quantum has product commercialization alliances with General Motors, AM General, and Sumitomo. Its customers include General Motors, Toyota, Opel, Hyundai, Suzuki, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, and the U.S. Army.
• AMEX-traded UQM Technologies, a developer of alternative energy technologies, raised $5.2 in a private placement lead by Heartland Advisors on behalf of two of its advisory clients, Heartland Value Fund and Turn of the Tide, a Wisconsin Limited Partnership. UQM is a developer and manufacturer of power dense, high efficiency electric motors, generators and power electronic controllers for the automotive, aerospace, medical, military and industrial markets.
• And this from the bizarre file... Pinksheets-listed company Alternate Energy Holdings (AEHI) claimed to have secured a letter of intent for $3.5 billion in financing from Cobblestone Financial Group to fund 100 percent of the company's proposed Idaho Energy Complex (IEC), a proposed commercial nuclear power plant/bio-fuel generation facility "to be constructed on a designated sight [sic]" near Grand View, Idaho. The company first announced its plans back in December (read Nuclear-powered ethanol.)

Got tips? We're listening.

Browse previous weeks' deal roundups here.