Etrion Corp. purchased the minority interests of Hitachi High-Technologies Corp. in four solar projects and the minority stake of Tamagawa Holdings Co. Ltd. in the 9.5-MW Misawa solar project, all in Japan, for a combined total of $4.4 million.

The transaction raises Etrion's net capacity to 56.8 MW from 47.0 MW, it said in a news release Jan. 16.

Etrion also renegotiated the operations and maintenance contracts previously provided by Hitachi High-Technologies and transferred them to other companies within the Hitachi Ltd. group. Etrion has now taken over two asset management contracts from Hitachi High Technologies for all of Etrion's four solar projects.

Also, Etrion's entire solar portfolio was transferred into a structure that results in improved cash flow distributions, among other benefits. In accordance with the deal, the project debt in the 9.3-MW Mito project was increased by about $2.7 million for transaction costs and fees, to be repaid with the remainder of the existing loan within the original tenor.