Apple deal: First Solar factory sold for $113.6M

Kristena Hansen

Reporter- Phoenix Business Journal

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Records filed with the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office show the sale of the First Solar plant closed on Oct. 31 in an all cash $113.57 million-deal.
The buying entity on record is Platypus Development LLC, a Delaware corporation formed on Oct. 24 that is listed under its Phoenix law firm Greenberg Traurig LLP.
While this Platypus entity doesn’t show any obvious connection to Apple Inc., various news reports, such as from Tech Crunch, said Apple was purchasing the facility for its supplier, GT Advanced Technologies.
In an 8-K filing Tuesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, GT said that on Oct. 31 — the same day the First Solar plant closed escrow — it had “entered into a lease agreement ... with an affiliate of Apple in order to lease a facility in Mesa, Ariz. that (GT) will use for the purpose of manufacturing the sapphire goods ...”
The transaction included the 1.32 million-square-foot-facility and 83 acres at the southwest corner of Elliot and Signal Butte roads, which is within the former GM Proving Ground now known as the Eastmark master-planned community.
In mid October, First Solar also sold 50 acres directly west of the plant for $3.48 million to an entity controlled by Bright International Corp., a manufacturer and product development services company to the professional and home hair, skin and personal care product industries based in Coolidge.