ABB to acquire Power-One in $1bn deal, to expand solar business

The company has signed an agreement with Power-One to acquire the latter in $6.35 a share deal, which includes Power-One’s net cash of $266m.

Solar inverters manufacturer, Power-One has generated $120m in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation on sales of about $1bn during 2012.

The acquisition is said to be in line with ABB’s plan to leverage the solar market that is expected to grow by more than 10% per annum.

The company said that Power-One besides being a major manufacturing unit has a broad power solution that complements ABB’s power conversion business.

Also, ABB said that the move would surge the company as a global supplier of solar inverters that transforms the direct current output of a solar panel to feed it into an electrical grid.

Commenting on the deal, ABB chief executive Joe Hogan remarked that the solar photovoltaic market that is rapidly closing in on grid parity would reshape energy mix in the coming years.

"The combination of Power-One and ABB is fully in line with our 2015 strategy and will create a global player with the scale to compete successfully and create value for customers, employees and shareholders," Hogan added.

Power-One employs almost 3,300 people, mainly in China, Italy, the U.S and Slovakia.

Meanwhile, the acquisition comes at the time when its counterpart Siemens is planning to offload its solar energy business following the dropping prices of photovoltaic equipments.