Sunfilm AG and Sontor GmbH have merged to become one of the world’s largest providers of tandem junction silicon based thin film modules. The new company will be named Sunfilm AG.
In an increasingly competitive global photovoltaic market, the companies say Sunfilm will have the necessary size and expertise to profit from the growing segment of thin film solar.
Q-Cells SE (QCE.DE), Good Energies and NorSun AS will be the shareholders of the new Sunfilm.
The new combined company has a manufacturing capacity of approximately 85 megawatts (MW) per year at the two current production sites in Bitterfeld-Wolfen and Grossroehrsdorf, plus an additional 60 MW of capacity under construction in Grossroehrsdorf.
Q-Cells, the sole owner of Sontor, will hold 50% of the new Sunfilm shares. Q-Cells is a leader within the global photovoltaic industry and is the world’s largest producer of solar cells. "The new Sunfilm forms a central pillar in Q-Cells’ global strategy for thin film technologies," says Dr. Florian Holzapfel, Board Member of Q-Cells, responsible for New Technologies. "This powerful merger will create even more growth momentum in this thin film sector."
Good Energies, a global investor in renewable energy and energy efficiency industries, as well as NorSun AS, a Norwegian manufacturer of high performance monocrystalline silicon wafers, will also remain invested in Sunfilm.
Good Energies will hold about 35% of the new company and about 15% will be owned by NorSun.
"We believe the merger is the best way to capitalize on the enormous potential of tandem junction thin film technology and to establish a leading company in the market," explains Dr. Sven Hansen, Chief Investment Officer of Good Energies and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Sunfilm.
The new company now has approximately 400 employees, but additional jobs will be created in the midterm as the expansion in Grossroehrsdorf comes on-line. The merger of the two companies is expected to become legally effective by the end of May 2009, but is still subject to approval by antitrust agencies.
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