The insolvent wind power plant builder Senvion is smashed. The approximately 1,800 employees at the company headquarters in Hamburg, the Bremerhaven plant and the development center in Osterrönfeld near Rendsburg were informed at company meetings that no buyer had been found for the profitable core business with turbines.
The prospects for the turbine production in Bremerhaven with 200 employees are very poor, the company said. There were no offers for the entire turbine production "despite intensive and worldwide search".
At present, the sector is still working on a few projects that will give the workforce employment by the end of the year, and some longer. The first employees should be terminated in September.
Operation is initially continued
Senvion employs more than 4,000 people worldwide and filed for bankruptcy in April due to difficulties in handling some major projects.
Business is currently difficult for the entire wind industry. In Germany, hardly any new plants were built on land in the first half of 2019. The competition around the world is tough and difficult to win in the background for smaller manufacturers without large corporations. Senvion has already outsourced the India business into its own operating company.
CEO Yves Rannou had hoped to bring the talks with investors to the end of August to success. Until then, the creditors are still financing the business. Now there is a sense of relaxation here: "The improved financial situation of the company allows the continuation of operations to the sale to an investor," said Senvion. That included wage and salary payments for all businesses, it said.
Potential buyers will be announced on September 10th
By the end of July, it had become apparent that Rannou would probably only find interested parties for parts of the company. At a bondholders' meeting on September 10, it should be clarified for which parts there are potential buyers.
Also the union IG Metall had hoped to last to a complete receipt. "Now it's about securing as many jobs as possible as well as collectively agreed working conditions when selling the service business," said IG Metall district manager Meinhard Geiken.
In addition, the union expects concrete agreements with the trustee as well as pledges from possible purchasers. Rannou steers Senvion in the insolvency in self-government itself, a trustee monitors the process only.