Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) has reached an agreement to acquire selected European assets of Senvion Group for EUR 200 million.
The assets included in the transaction comprise a large part of the Senvion’s European onshore service business, all of Senvion’s intellectual property and Senvion’s onshore blade manufacturing facility in Vagos, Portugal.
The acquisition of Senvion’s service fleet of 8.9 GW will take Siemens Gamesa to a total of nearly 69 GW under maintenance. The addition of these assets helps diversify SGRE’s business mix and geographical exposure, with contracts that offer long-term visibility and renewal rates that have historically been very high, says Siemens Gamesa.
Further, the Vagos plant will help reduce SGRE’s dependency on supplier-sourcing from Asia, mitigating volatility amid the uncertainties brought about by current trade issues, the company says.
Lastly, the acquisition of Senvion’s intellectual property allows Siemens Gamesa to further enhance its technology portfolio for future development.
“This transaction is an important step forward for Siemens Gamesa,” says Markus Tacke, CEO of SGRE. “Bringing Senvion’s service assets on board will help us to drive growth in a key market segment and add important capacity in Germany and other important European markets, while the blade factory helps us mitigate the risk in the difficult trade environment. We’re bringing good people and good business into the company, and that’s a win for all parties.”
As part of the acquisition, approximately 2,000 Senvion employees are expected to join Siemens Gamesa, representing close to 60% of all jobs at Senvion. Subject to obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals and achieving other closing conditions, Siemens Gamesa expects to close the respective acquisition of assets in the first half of fiscal year 2020 (October 2019 – March 2020).
Senvion announced in August that it had received several advanced offers for substantial core parts of its business, following insolvency proceedings earlier in the year. The German turbine manufacturer also announced planned layoffs.
“We are pleased that we have been able to give our colleagues in a large part of the European onshore services business and in our blade production facility in Portugal positive news today, securing close to 60 percent of all jobs, for now,” comments Yves Rannou, CEO of Senvion. “Siemens Gamesa will be a safe new home for them. We are also confident that this a good solution for our service customers.
“This has been a long and demanding path in a challenging context and in the face of many difficulties, but I am very confident that the business is well-positioned under the new ownership. The new environment will protect the critical competencies and skills that were developed at Senvion and enable our employees to make long-term and valuable contributions to the energy transition,” Rannou continues.
“We are thankful to our customers who stayed with us during this time and continued to show faith in our capabilities and to the financial institutions whose support allowed us to realize this transaction. I also appreciate the constructive approach SGRE has shown throughout the negotiations and their dedication towards the transaction. Finally, I sincerely thank everyone who made Senvion what it was for decades: a pioneer in the provision of clean power to the world. We will now continue our efforts to pursue potential options for other business parts to find solutions for as many employees as possible.”
