German energy company MVV Energie has agreed to acquire a 50.1% stake in Rheinland-Pfalz renewable energy project developer Juwi, one of the country's biggest developers of wind and solar plants.
The Mannheim-based MVV Energie said on Thursday that the two companies aimed to forge a close partnership in expanding renewable energies.
MVV Energie CEO Georg Müller said the acquisition represented a major step for the MVV group, whose companies cover the entire energy industry value chain.
"The transformation currently underway in the German energy supply is all about combining renewable and conventional energies as key pillars of the future energy system in a way that makes both economic and ecological sense. Others talk about the energy turnaround. We are making it happen."
Juwi founders Fred Jung and Matthias Willenbacher will hold a combined 49.9% stake in the company following the deal.
The transaction is scheduled for completion by the end of the year but remains subject to the successful implementation of Juwi's restructuring, approval by participating banks and other financing parties as well as to approval by Germany's Federal Cartel Office.
The companies declined to provide financial details of the deal.
Founded in 1996, Juwi is known as a pioneer of renewable energies in Germany, focusing on the development of wind and solar projects. The company, which currently has about 1,000 employees worldwide, had generated annual sales of up to 1 billion in past years. Due to the market downturn, however, it has more recently encountered financing difficulties and as a result introduced a far-reaching restructuring program and streamlined its operations.
"Once this restructuring is complete, Juwi will complement our own activities and acquisitions in our further growth-driven expansion in renewable energies," Müller said. "Together with Juwi, we aim to expand renewable energies on an economically viable, reliable basis and thus help the energy turnaround succeed."
MVV Energie added that this strategic cooperation would offer the stability and development prospects necessary for Juwi and its project partners as well as new interested parties, pointing out that the company would now be able to work on implementing its well-filled project pipeline as well as on further marketing projects to interested investors.
Müller added that MVV Energie was also expanding its non-investment service business — from asset and operations management through to direct marketing. This year MVV Energie assumed the direct marketing of electricity generated by some of Juwis renewable energies plants.
In addition, MVV Energie has other current projects aimed at smartly linking renewable and conventional generation plants using innovative components, Müller said. "This area harbors promising opportunities for new business models, especially in the field of decentralized energy management. We are working on this closely both with partners from within the energy industry and partners from other sectors who are leaders in their respective markets."
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