Fimer, a company active in the renewable energy inverter market, has acquired ABB's solar inverter business. The transferred business unit had revenues of $290 million in 2018 and has approximately 800 employees in over 30 countries, with manufacturing and R&D sites in Italy, India and Finland.
Due to this transaction, which is expected to close within the first quarter of 2020, ABB expects to record approximately $430 million in pre-tax non-operating charges in the second quarter of 2019.
Approximately 75% of the charges are payments ABB will make to FIMER from the closing date of the deal through 2025. In addition, ABB expects divestment-related costs of up to $40 million in the second half of 2019 .
In addition, ABB expects that after the closing of the transaction, the operating Ebita margin of the Electrification business will improve by more than 50 basis points.
"We are pleased to announce this step forward in the development of Fimer's focus on the solar business - comments Filippo Carzaniga, CEO of the group - which will be greatly strengthened by this integration".
Tarak Mehta, president of ABB's Electrification business, underlines instead that “the sale is in line with the strategy of systematic management of the portfolio to strengthen competitiveness and focus on segments with high growth and profitability. The solar market represents a consolidated area of focus for Fimer and this is why we consider them the ideal owners for ABB's solar inverter business”.
