PHOTON International The Photovoltaic Magazine

On May 17, an attempt by an investor group to keep the fatally-stricken Swiss company Atlantis afloat failed. The court of Bern adjudged Atlantis Energy Investments AG and its three subsidiaries, Atlantis Solar Systeme AG, Atlantis Water Desalination Systems AG, and Atlantis Wasser Recycling Systeme AG, bankrupt.

	© Atlantis Solar Systeme
Atlantis' core product, the PV roof tile Sunslates, is still available in the US, and perhaps again soon in Europe.

The investor group, which had toppled Atlantis founder and CEO Mario Posnansky at a shareholder meeting in February (see PI 3/2001, p. 12), commissioned the accounting firm KPMG to examine Atlantis' shoddy bookkeeping. But when KPMG detected consolidated losses of 23 million CHF ($12.8 million USD) for the reference date Dec. 31, 2000, and the losses continued to grow until May, they feared bankruptcy was inevitable.

Two members of the former Atlantis group, the Atlantis Energy AG, originally the parent company of the holding, and the Swissun AG, a PV investment firm, were not affected by the bankruptcy proceedings. However, Posnansky still holds the majority share in both companies.

In June, several Atlantis Energy Investments AG shareholders joined forces with other investors to found a new company, Swiss Sustainable Systems AG. The new firm employs some of ex-Atlantis' staff. »All the subsidiaries are still on board, but they're merged into one,« says interim CEO Beat Werner. Swiss Sustainable Systems AG will focus on PV, water recycling, and desalination.

With regard to its PV plans, Swiss Sustainable Systems is confronted with a problem: it owns only 50 percent of the former Atlantis factory in Härkingen. The day before Posnansky was kicked out, he sold off 50 percent of the factory. »We are in negotiations,« says Werner, but the new company will not be able to rely on the Härkingen factory, which is currently operating at a low level. »It's just a question of time,« Werner says, and if no agreement can be reached, they'll have to simply build a new one. Plans are already in the works to move production to another area in Bern, »where production and administration can be concentrated in one place.«

Whereas Atlantis made modules largely for their own projects, Swiss Sustainable Systems' strategy primarily aims at the production of custom-designed modules for installers and developers in Switzerland, Germany, Holland, and other European countries. In the future, the Sunslates PV roof tiles, probably Atlantis' best-known product, will be re-offered, though with a new configuration and most likely under a new name. »Sunslates are part of the bankrupt's assets, so we would have to consult with the bankruptcy administrator,« says Werner, who doesn't view this particular subject as his top priority.

Like Posnansky's companies, the former US branch of Atlantis was also unaffected by the bankruptcy proceedings. After a recent increase in share capital, a US investor acquired the majority of Atlantis' US branch, and a license allows him to continue production of Sunslates. In contrast, GSS Gebäude-Solarsysteme GmbH, remains a fully owned Atlantis subsidiary. »We were in the process of transferring the shares to the managing director of GSS when bankruptcy was filed,« admits Werner. However, Joachim Höhne, managing director of GSS, claims his business was also unaffected by the whole affair. GSS, says Höhne, is »economically independent,« with full order books and a busy production schedule. »We aren’t a part of the bankrupt's assets, it's only the shares of Atlantis' shareholders« that are affected, Höhne commented.