Conergy, which was one of Europe's largest solar power companies before it filed for insolvency two years ago, is preparing for an initial public offering after returning to profit, its owners say.
The Hamburg-based company, majority-owned by Miami-based private equity group Kawa Capital Management, is aiming for a value of about $2bn-$3bn including debt. The IPO would be aimed at providing Kawa with an exit rather than raising new money.
Conergy had sales of nearly $500m last year, according to Andrew de Pass, chief executive, and an operating profit of less than $10m.
"Conergy is really well-positioned to go public in the next 12 to 24 months. The market wants an alternative to SunEdison and we're that alternative," said Mr de Pass.
He said Conergy would be 20-30 per cent of the size of SunEdison, the world's largest developer of solar and wind power, which has a value of about $11bn including debt.
Conergy, which was originally listed in Frankfurt, posted a net loss of €99m on sales of €473.5m in 2012, and went bankrupt a year later.
It was one of a wave of bankruptcies in the German solar industry, which was blighted by a glut in supply combined with the cutting of subsidies in Germany and stiff competition from Chinese manufacturers. Conergy employed about 1,200 staff globally at the time.
Kawa acquired the brand and Conergy's global sales and servicing operations in Europe, Asia and the US.
Conergy's factory in a town on the German-Poland border was acquired by a Chinese company at the end of 2013.
The solar company's new owners shifted its focus to developing and operating solar projects. The company now employs 350 people in 14 countries.
"We acquired all of the downstream businesses," said Mr de Pass. "We didn't acquire any entity that was insolvent - that was the parent. At the same time, the manufacturing operations which were part of Conergy's problem were sold off."
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>He said he expected 50 per cent growth in 2015 on the basis of megawatts installed - compared with 300 megawatts of solar capacity installed last year - and "substantial profitability".
"Massive pools of capital have moved in to own solar for the long-term because it is real estate without the occupancy risk, and so Conergy is perfectly positioned to take advantage of this long-term secular trend," he said.
As the cost of manufacturing solar panels falls, there is optimism in the industry that an increasing number of markets worldwide will reach "grid parity" - the point at which the cost of producing solar energy is equal to the price of purchasing power from the grid.
"The growth really comes from the collapse in the cost to install," Mr de Pass said, adding that Conergy's global footprint made it well-positioned to take advantage of this opportunity.
"We're moving into growth markets in Latin America, we're moving into Turkey, into Africa. We have some of our first projects in other countries in Southeast Asia - Malaysia and Indonesia," he said.
(Financial Times)
