Meyer Burger raises another $14m by selling software subsidiary

Embattled PV equipment supplier Meyer Burger has banked another CHF14 million ($14 million) as it hopes to reap the rewards of a renewed focus on high-quality, European-made solar cells and modules.

 

Having announced earlier this week it had sold off its corporate headquarters, the Swiss solar production line maker yesterday sold its AIS Automation Dresden GmbH digital software solutions and Internet of Things business.

 

AIS Automation, which employs around 140 people, will be sold to Austrian company S&T AG subject to the purchase being approved by German antitrust authorities. That regulatory requirement means the sale is expected to be completed late next month, Meyer Burger announced in a press release announcing the deal.

 

The announcement stated Meyer Burger, which has suffered from ever lower profit margins as it supplied products to Chinese solar manufacturers, would bank an accounting profit of around CHF2 million from the transaction, after a “goodwill recycling charge” of just under CHF5 million.

 

Thun-based Meyer Burger this year reversed a decision to relocate significant parts of its operations to China in favor of supplying its equipment in its European homeland and this week announced a CHF18 million extension to a phased equipment order from Anglo-German perovskite cell manufacturer Oxford PV.