The joint venture between Centrosolar Group and Qimonda, known as Itarion Solar Lda, has announced that it has filed for insolvency.
The negotiations for the Itarion Solar venture were cancelled following the insolvency of Qimonda in January 2009. Originally, a consortium of Portuguese industrial companies, banks and investment funds had been put together to take on Qimonda’s interest in the venture, yet Centrosolar came to the conclusion that the direction taken by the negotiations now ruled out the success of the project.
Solutions to this problem had been previously discussed, yet Centrosolar says it had foreseen considerable risk involved as well as a much greater involvement in the operating side of business to be taken on, on Centrosolar’s part.
The management resources required would therefore have represented a major distraction from the company’s own core business.
Centrosolar says that it needs to write off its investment in Itarion with a current book value of €10.1 million; further to this, Itarion carries net financial debt of approximately €16.5 million, for which both Qimonda AG and Centrosolar are liable.
An agreement has been reached with the lending banks to repay this amount in installments up until mid-2011; this arrangement will enable the company to continue expanding its core business’ including system integration for PV roof systems, as well as the manufacture and sale of solar key components such as antireflective glass and mounting systems.