SGL Group - The Carbon Company – announced today its acquisition of a 51-percent majority share of Abeking & Rasmussen Rotec GmbH & Co KG, one of the leading independent manufacturers of rotor blades for wind turbines. The SGL Group will assume managerial responsibility of this joint venture. The purchase price is kept confidential under a non-disclosure agreement between both parties. With 300 employees at its Lemwerder site near Bremen A&R Rotec expects a turnover of approximately €50 million in 2008.
The joint venture will operate under the name “SGL Rotec GmbH & Co KG” and will be based in Lemwerder. The target is to position SGL Rotec as a leading rotor blade manufacturer with “best-in-class” manufacturing know-how and to expand into wind energy markets like China, India, Turkey, and North America by establishing local production sites. The transaction is still subject to the approval of the German antitrust authorities.
Hariolf Kottmann, Member of the Board of Management and responsible for the Business Area Advanced Materials: “With this acquisition, SGL Group strengthens its
market position as the sole European integrated carbon fiber and composites manufacturer in the dynamically growing wind energy sector. This forward integration
into rotor blade manufacture is therefore a logical and important step in our carbon fiber and composites growth strategy. It enables us to cover the complete value chain and to offer end-to-end services to customers as a reliable partner in the wind energy sector.”
Forward integration is a profound component in the CFC strategy
As an independent supplier, SGL Rotec will manufacture rotor blades in close cooperation with customers and exclusively based on their “build-to-print” design
requirements, a strategy that is being supported by major customers in the wind energy sector. The forward integration into blade manufacturing complements SGL Group's activities in the Carbon Fibers & Composites (CFC) Business Unit, covering now the entire value chain related to the wind energy sector, which includes precursor and carbon fiber production, followed by fabrics, preforms and prepregs, as well as rotor blade components and finished rotor blades. Customers of SGL in the wind energy sector will have a sustainable supply security, one of the key success factor in this industry.
Synergies within the CFC value chain
Abeking & Rasmussen Rotec specializes in manufacturing of high-grade rotor blades. The company has long-term supply agreements with a number of leading wind turbine manufacturers. It has a stake in Powerblades GmbH, a joint venture with REpower Systems AG for developing off-shore rotor blades with lengths over 60m. Rotec also maintains a close business relationship with SGL Kümpers, another supplier to the wind industry. Already today, SGL Group is delivering carbon fiber based key materials along the entire value chain for rotor blade manufacturing. The combination of SGL Group’s existing material know-how with Abeking & Rasmussen Rotec’s manufacturing competencies will facilitate further material development and to optimize and automate the current labor-intensive rotor blade production. SGL Group will contribute its expertise in automated production of composite components for automotive applications (Benteler SGL) and in the aviation industry (HITCO).
Wind energy capacity expected to triple by 2012
The global efforts to reduce CO2 emissions and to lower the dependency on gas and oil, the wind energy sector is in a dynamic growth phase. Wind energy is already cost competitive and is therefore regarded as one of the most important alternative energy sources. The installed global capacity is expected to triple from 94 GW in 2007 to 288 GW in 2012, with Europe showing the highest growth in absolute terms. Americas and Asia start from a lower base but the growth rates are expected to exceed 30% p.a. (Source: BTM Consult). Off-shore wind plants will increasingly contribute to this growth.
Wind energy as key driver for carbon fiber growth
The wind energy industry is already the largest single consumer of materials based on industrial carbon fibers. SGL Group has already positioned itself as a leading materials supplier to this sector and strengthened its portfolio as the only integrated European carbon fiber and composites manufacturer through strategic acquisitions of epo and Kümpers. SGL Group is planning to triple its carbon fiber production capacity up to 12,000 tons p.a. by the year 2012, to take advantage of the growing substitution of basic materials. SGL’s carbon fiber production capacity will be 6,000 tons p.a. by the beginning of 2009.
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