US investor to take on Conergy's sales but not production
The U.S. based financial investor Kawa Capital Management, Inc. ("Kawa"), directly and/or through affiliates, intends to acquire most of the global sales units from Conergy as well as the necessary associated administrative, management and infrastructure functions of Conergy AG, including the "Conergy" brand. Kawa is a multi-platform asset management firm with headquarters in Miami, Florida. Production subsidiaries Mounting Systems GmbH and Conergy SolarModule GmbH & Co. KG are not part of this transaction.
Kawa, the Conergy Management Board and the preliminary insolvency administrator have signed a letter of intent this Friday. The parties intend to finalize the details of the envisaged transaction and the purchase agreement in the next four weeks. The purchase agreement is expected to be executed in the second half of August, subject to a number of conditions precedent including the approval of Conergy's creditor committee.
"Kawa is our preferred partner. We have been in intense negotiations about an investment in Conergy for months and have agreed on the future concept for Conergy already a long time ago," said Conergy CEO Dr. Philip Comberg. "Our expertise is highly complementary. In the last two years we have consistently focused Conergy on our strengths in international sales and services. At the same time, we have developed new financing and asset management services. With this setup, Conergy is ideally suited for the future challenges in the global solar growth markets. We want to sustainably implement this "˜downstream strategy' in the international solar markets with a strong financial and strategic partner who is investing in the company for the long term. Kawa's financing and structuring capabilities combined with Conergy's global platform, track record and unparalleled expertise in downstream solar PV creates a unique and leading market player."
Kawa's objective is to acquire the two German entities Conergy Deutschland GmbH and Conergy Services GmbH as well as the subsidiaries in the U.S. and Canada, Singapore and Thailand, Australia, Spain, Italy, France, Greece, Cyprus and the United Kingdom. None of these entities has filed an application to open insolvency proceedings and each continues to operate normally. Negotiations on further international entities are ongoing. Kawa also plans to acquire the necessary associated administrative, management and infrastructure functions, including operations in Hamburg and Zweibruecken, Germany, as well as the brand "Conergy" from the insolvent parent company Conergy AG. This is a positive signal to the market, the Conergy employees as well as the clients: Conergy will continue to be their strong partner on a global basis. The parties expect to finalize further details of the envisaged deal over the next few weeks.
"We are excited about this potential transaction with Conergy, a global leader in the downstream solar industry," said Daniel Ades, Managing Partner of Kawa. "The solar PV market is growing exponentially as costs approach grid parity, and Conergy is uniquely positioned to capitalize on this opportunity globally. We see a large potential in structuring and financing solar facilities across different jurisdictions, from residential to commercial rooftop to smaller scale utility projects, by packaging the predictable cash-flow streams into special financing vehicles. Conergy's high standards of excellence and experience, with over 2.3 GW of panels sold and installed worldwide, make Conergy a natural leader in the global downstream solar PV market and a natural partner for successfully executing this strategy."
"We knew that we needed to be very fast in finding a solution that secures the jobs of numerous Conergy employees. It looks as if such a solution is now looming, just two weeks after the application to open insolvency proceedings. This is mainly due to the excellent preparation by the Conergy Management Board and the previously held negotiations," said the preliminary insolvency administrator Dr. Sven-Holger Undritz of the law firm White & Case. "We will work closely together with Kawa on finalizing the purchase agreement in the upcoming weeks."
The two production units Conergy Mounting Systems GmbH and Conergy SolarModule GmbH & Co. KG are not part of the planned acquisition. The preliminary insolvency administrator continues to seek separate solutions for both subsidiaries: "For Mounting Systems we are already in promising talks with potential investors," said Undritz. "I am confident that we will very soon find a solution for the two subsidiaries in Rangsdorf and Frankfurt (Oder), Germany, which are affected by the preliminary insolvency."
Production continues at Mounting Systems in Rangsdorf with unchanged high utilization. The mounting system producer is currently supplying numerous contracts for international projects and order books are still full. In the module production in Frankfurt (Oder) books are also well filled. Management and the preliminary insolvency administrator therefore announced today to resume production next Monday at the module factory, which employs around 320 staff. Wages and salaries of the employees of Conergy SolarModule, Conergy AG and Mounting Systems are secured by the insolvency fund.
