 |
Ventizz Capital Fund IV, L.P. acquires Sovello AG
March 24, 2010
The owners of Sovello AG signed a contract with Ventizz Capital Fund IV, L.P. to sell 100% of their interest in Sovello to the fund. In the course of this transaction, Ventizz plans to increase the equity of Sovello AG by an amount in the double-digit million Euro range and to largely eliminate the company’s debt. The change in ownership is subject to the approval by the participating financial institutions as well as antitrust, state and local authorities. Until now, the shareholders Evergreen Solar Inc, Q-Cells SE and REC ASA each held 33.3% of Sovello.
Dr. Ted Scheidegger, CEO of Sovello AG, expresses his appreciation for the contributions of the current shareholders to the establishment and growth of the Company and is very pleased with the opportunities that the change in ownership as well as the concurrent capital increase offer for the future development of the Company: “We regard it as both a recognition and a challenge that an investor as experienced in the sector as Ventizz has decided to invest in Sovello as a technology and growth platform considering the currently challenging times in the solar industry. A solid financial foundation, confidence in the capability to innovate and quality awareness of our employees in Bitterfeld-Wolfen combined with the excellent reputation of our products among customers are all ingredients which will allow Sovello to successfully compete on a global basis in future.”
Dr. Helmut Vorndran, Managing Partner of Ventizz Capital Partners – advisor to the investing Fund – is also convinced that the entry of the Fund is the right decision for both parties: “Sovello is one of the few fully integrated players which cover three levels of the value chain, namely wafer, cell and module production, and at the same time epitomize competitive premium technology ‘Made in Germany.’ Furthermore, the Company is led by an experienced and highly qualified executive management team. We are, therefore, very confident that the Company with Ventizz’s support has excellent chances to achieve an outstanding position in the highly competitive and rapidly growing global solar market in the coming years.”
Company profiles
Ventizz Capital Partners was formed in 2000 and has offices in St. Gallen and Düsseldorf. Ventizz Capital Partners exclusively advises the Ventizz private equity funds that offer equity capital for the growth of high-tech companies in the German-speaking region. Ventizz has three partners: Dr. Helmut Vorndran, Reinhard Löchner and Willi Mannheims. Together with a team of 17 professionals they currently advise four funds with capital under management totaling EUR 675 million. Ventizz Capital Fund IV L.P. is the largest of the four funds set up to date. After six months of fund-raising, this fund was closed at the end of 2007 with a volume of EUR 450 million and is thus one of the largest private equity funds for venture capital and medium-sized tech buy outs in the German-speaking region.
To date, Ventizz funds have invested in 32 companies focusing on renewable energy, medical technology, information and communication technology and on other industries offering high value-add. In addition to a large number of trade sales, Ventizz has successfully taken three of its portfolio companies public (ersol, SAF, PV Crystalox Solar).
Sovello AG is an integrated producer of solar wafers, solar cells and solar modules. By means of the so-called photovoltaic effect solar modules transform sun light into electricity. One of the key differentiators of its high-performance quality products vs. traditional multi crystalline modules is the resource friendly production process and short energy pay-back time.
Sovello operates three production plants in Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany. The first plant, SV1, started production in June 2006. In June 2007, the second production facility, SV2, came online. With SV3, the third plant recently finished, Sovello's nominal production capacity has reached about 180 Megawattpeak (MWp). Sovello AG employs about 1.250 people in Bitterfeld-Wolfen.
On the Internet at: www.sovello.com
|
|
