Meyer Burger fails to sell whole group amid relentless competition

• Swiss solar maker Meyer Burger says no buyer emerged for the entire company, underscoring brutal price pressure from Chinese rivals and a challenging market.

Meyer Burger’s search for a buyer of the entire group has come up empty, a sobering milestone for one of Europe’s most recognizable solar brands. The Swiss manufacturer said it was unable to secure an investor willing to acquire the full company, a result it blames on fierce Chinese competition that has driven module prices to multi-year lows and squeezed margins across the industry.

The outcome leaves Meyer Burger with limited, more tactical options: exploring partial asset sales, licensing intellectual property, or forming joint ventures around specific product lines. None are straightforward. Buyers in today’s market want clarity on liabilities, long-term warranty obligations, and service commitments—especially after a year in which upstream overcapacity and price wars forced multiple restructurings across the value chain. For employees and European policymakers, the stakes are broader: if regional manufacturing is to survive, procurement standards and industrial support must reward durability and traceability, not just the cheapest dollar-per-watt.

For project developers, the message is pragmatic. Bankability now hinges on diversified supplier lists, robust performance guarantees, and contingency plans for spare parts and service. Lenders increasingly scrutinize manufacturer balance sheets and require evidence that warranties will outlast financing tenors. That discipline can raise near-term component costs slightly but lowers the total cost of risk over a project’s life.

Meyer Burger’s technology—long positioned around high-efficiency architectures—still carries value, but translating that into cash in a glutted market is difficult. Turning patents into licensing income, carving out profitable subunits, or pivoting to niche segments (building-integrated PV, specialty modules) are possible paths, yet each demands time and fresh capital.

European solar deployment is booming; manufacturing, less so. The gap highlights a strategic choice for the region: double down on industrial policy that links public procurement and sustainability criteria to homegrown production, or accept deeper reliance on imports. Meyer Burger’s next steps will be watched as a bellwether for whether Europe can keep any significant slice of the solar hardware supply chain onshore.