Anwell Technologies Limited was a Hong Kong multinational

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...

company. Founded in 2000, the company initially designed machines that mass-produced

optical disc In computing and optical disc recording technologies, an optical disc (OD) is a flat, usually circular disc that encodes binary data (bits) in the form of pits and lands on a special material, often aluminum, on one of its flat surfaces. ...

s, but later began manufacturing

thin-film solar cells A thin-film solar cell is a second generation solar cell that is made by depositing one or more thin layers, or thin film (TF) of photovoltaic material on a substrate, such as glass, plastic or metal. Thin-film solar cells are commercially use ...

and

organic light-emitting diode An organic light-emitting diode (OLED or organic LED), also known as organic electroluminescent (organic EL) diode, is a light-emitting diode (LED) in which the emissive electroluminescent layer is a film of organic compound that emits light i ...

s (OLEDs) as well. The company was listed on the

Singapore Exchange The Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) is a Singaporean investment holding company that provides different services related to securities and derivatives trading and others. SGX is also a member of the World Federation of Exchanges and the Asian ...

in 2004, but delisted in 2019 as the company shut down its operations.

History

Anwell was founded in 2000 by chairman and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Fan Kai Leung ( zh, s=范继良, p=Fàn Jì Liáng), known as Franky Fan, and five other engineering partners with initial capital of

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

100,000. In 2004, the company was listed on the mainboard of the

Singapore Stock Exchange The Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) is a Singaporean investment holding company that provides different services related to securities and derivatives trading and others. SGX is also a member of the World Federation of Exchanges and the Asian ...

. In September 2009, Anwell produced its first

thin-film solar cell A thin-film solar cell is a second generation solar cell that is made by depositing one or more thin layers, or thin film (TF) of photovoltaic material on a substrate, such as glass, plastic or metal. Thin-film solar cells are commercially use ...

at their production plant located in

Anyang Anyang (; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan province, China. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the east, Hebi and Xinxiang to the south, and the provinces of Shanxi and Hebei to its west and north respectively. It had a ...

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

, China. The following month, Anwell's wholly owned subsidiary Sungen signed a memorandum of understanding with American energy company Solargen to supply solar panels for their

solar farm Solar may refer to: Astronomy * Of or relating to the Sun ** Solar telescope, a special purpose telescope used to observe the Sun ** A device that utilizes solar energy (e.g. "solar panels") ** Solar calendar, a calendar whose dates indicate t ...

projects. In 2011, Anwell received a total of

RMB The renminbi (; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB) is the official currency of the People's Republic of China and one of the world's most traded currencies, ranking as the fifth most traded currency in the world as of April 2022. ...

800 million in funding from the municipal government of

Dongguan Dongguan (; ) is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province, China. An important industrial city in the Pearl River Delta, Dongguan borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the north, Huizhou to the northeast, Shenzhen to the s ...

for the construction of a second manufacturing base in the city, as well as RMB 700 million increase production capacity at its existing plant in Anyang. In February 2012, Anwell secured its first

engineering, procurement, and construction Engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts (a type of turnkey contract) are a form of contract used to undertake construction works by the private sector on large-scale and complex infrastructure projects. Overview Under an EPC co ...

contract for a solar power plant in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

, in a deal worth US$25 million.

Legal issues and closure

In November 2017, Anwell's judicial managers RSM Corporate Advisory announced that Anwell's Chinese subsidiary, Dongguan Anwell Digital Machinery, as well as Anwell CEO Fan, executive director Wu Wai Kin (known as Ken Wu), and group financial controller Kwong Chi Kit (known as Victor Kwong) were found guilty of

fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...

by Chinese courts. Dongguan Anwell was ordered to pay a total of RMB 1.2 billion in fines and other payments; Fan was sentenced to life imprisonment and a seizure of personal assets worth up to RMB 5 million, while Wu and Kwong were fined RMB 4 million each and sentenced to 20 and 19 years' imprisonment, respectively. In March 2018, the

Singapore High Court The High Court of Singapore is the lower division of the Supreme Court of Singapore, the upper division being the Court of Appeal. It consists of the chief justice and the judges of the High Court. Judicial Commissioners are often appointed ...

granted an application for the company to shut down its operations and begin the process of

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistrib ...

. The company applied to delist from the Singapore Exchange in January 2019.

References

External links

Official website
(archived 4 October 2017) {{Portal, Companies Companies formerly listed on the Singapore Exchange Thin-film cells Solar energy companies Thin-film cell manufacturers Photovoltaics manufacturers Engineering companies of Hong Kong Hong Kong brands