SMA, Danfoss join forces, form major converter alliance

Share

German inverter manufacturer SMA Solar Technology on Wednesday announced a new strategic partnership with Danish engineering and manufacturing giant Danfoss Group.

As part of the agreement, Danfoss will acquire a 20 percent share in SMA, which will take over Danfoss’ solar inverter business.

While SMA's supervisory board has approved a letter of intent regarding the formation of the partnership, the companies are still negotiating details of the transaction; the deal also remains subject to anti-trust approval.

The team-up would also include close collaboration in research and development, procurement and sales.

Danfoss will acquire 6.94 million SMA shares at a price of €43.57 per share from the SMA founders, their trusts and families for a total of €302.38 million. After completion of the transaction, SMA's freely tradable shares in free float will be at 25.05%, while SMA founders, their trusts and families will hold 54.95%. In addition, Danfoss has agreed not to buy or sell shares for a lock-up period of at least two years. The share purchase is subject to regulatory approval. The deal is expected to be finalized in the third quarter of the year if approved.

"The strategic alliance with Danfoss strengthens SMA's leading position in the global photovoltaic market," said SMA CEO Pierre-Pascal Urbon. "We are faced with a highly competitive market environment and increased price pressure. In this context, SMA will benefit from Danfoss' years of experience in automated drives.

"This market has been characterized by fierce competition for a long time. Accordingly, the strategy of the Danfoss group targets continuous cost improvements through global sourcing and cost down initiatives. By establishing a close cooperation there is significant potential to improve the cost position in both companies," Urbon added.

SMA said the acquisition of Danfoss' solar inverter business would increase the attractiveness of its product portfolio. After the completion of the transaction SMA will launch new products for the fast-growing market segments of medium-sized photovoltaic plants in Europe, China and the United States.

"With the strong cooperation between Danfoss, as a leading specialist in the field of drives, and SMA, with a unique positioning in the solar inverter market, both companies will create one of the world’s largest converter alliances with a global presence," said Danfoss President and CEO Niels B. Christiansen.

"A shareholding of 20% in SMA is a bold statement and proves our continued dedication and confidence in the solar business. We are committed to drive innovation and competitiveness by integrating Danfoss know-how from the drives technology to the photovoltaic inverter business. Danfoss will certainly benefit from economies of scale and the high growth rates of the solar industry."

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.

Popular content

Switzerland authorizes removable PV plant on railway track

04 October 2024 Swiss startup Sun-ways is planning to build a 18 kW pilot PV system between the racks of a 100-m linear section of a railway line in the Swiss canton...

Share

Leave a Reply

Please be mindful of our community standards.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.

Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.

You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.

Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.