SIT sells Dachland stake, but business thriving in EU

On Jan. 11, Los Angeles-based Solar Integrated Technologies Inc. (SIT) announced the sale of its 30-percent interest in German roofing contractor Dachland GmbH to a group of European and US investment funds for an undisclosed price.  

© Dachland GmbH New deal: SIT sold its 30-percent stake in German green roofing contractor Dachland, shown here installing a 3 kW flexible thin-film roofing system in Mainz, Germany.

The sell-off comes just a little over one year after SIT paid €1.5 million ($1.82 million) for the stake, with an option to purchase the remaining 70 percent by April 2006 (see PI 1/2005, p. 6). According to CEO Jon Slangerup, who joined SIT in Feb. 2005, the company decided it could expand its marketing reach in Europe without the »contingent liability« of ownership, including the large amount of capital needed to fully acquire Dachland. The sale releases SIT from bank guarantees of up to $4.1 million. Simultaneously, Dachland agreed to purchase at least 8 MW of its flexible thin-film roofing systems through 2008.

SIT began distributing its roofing systems in Europe toward the end of 2005, after receiving IEC module certification and securing a marketing agreement with Swiss company Sarnafil International AG (see PI 11/2005, p. 45). Sarnafil is also the supplier of the single-ply roofing systems that are fused with a-Si laminates SIT purchases from United Solar Ovonic LLC. Of the 39 industrial solar roofing projects SIT completed in 2005, 16 were in Europe: 14 in Germany, one in Spain, and one in France. These projects amounted to about 1 MW, which was about one-third of SIT's installed capacity for the year, said Slangerup. In total, the company has installed 58 projects with a combined capacity of approximately 6 MW. Final results for 2005 will be announced at the end of March.

Slangerup says SIT is reserving about 4 MW for European projects in 2006, even though Sarnafil has identified over 10 MW for potential customers. SIT's sales are currently limited by United Solar's production output, which amounted to 22 MW in 2005. The thin-film manufacturer also sells its laminates to two other large clients, the German manufacturers of solar roof solutions Thyssen and Alwitra. 

SIT's stock advanced on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market the day the Dachland sale was made public, increasing to £3.00 ($5.32) per share from £2.48 ($4.39). The company's share price has tripled since Jan. 2005.