Bosch buys up solar company, with a healthy premium to the closing price
marketwatch.com
afp.google.com
German solar sector starting to attract investors
Jun 8, 2008
FRANKFURT (AFP) — Germany's solar energy industry can breathe a sigh of relief: Subsidies are set for smaller cuts than expected, and the sector is set for consolidation many say is the crucial next step in its development.
The global electronics group Bosch was first off the mark, announcing the purchase last week of German solar energy equipment producer Ersol.
Bosch is set to spend more than 500 million euros (770 million dollars) for a majority holding in Ersol and could invest up to 1.1 billion if it decides to take full control.
Analysts at the private bank Sal Oppenheim called it "the boldest move so far in what we see as the start of a consolidation process in the solar industry."
Matthias Fawer, who works at the Swiss bank Sarasin and wrote a study on the sector, had a similar interpretation.
"It is a very positive sign for the the photovoltaic industry that a major company is entering the market," he told AFP.
"This is proof the market is reaching maturity. Others may follow."
WestLB analyst Peter Wirtz added: "Other large industrial groups are potentially interested in entering the sector as part of their long-term strategy."
The main reason is solar energy's growth potential in light of soaring oil prices and a possible depletion of the earth's fossile fuel resources.
"The market is going to grow by more than 20 percent per year over the next decade," forecast Carsten Koernig, head of the German sector federation BSW.
In Germany alone, which leads Europe in the solar energy field, sales are expected to double within three years to 10 billion euros in 2010, according to a study by the Ifo and EuPD Research institutes.
Turnover is then tipped to quadruple by 2020 and to multiply seven-fold by 2030.
"And it is not only in Germany, in every country in the world we realize we don't have enough energy sources," Koernig told AFP. |
