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Bloomberg
Sonnen GmbH, a German solar-energy-storage maker that competes against Tesla Motors Inc.’s Powerwall battery, may pursue an initial share sale as early as 2017 to develop additional services.
The company, formed in 2010 in Bavaria, sold its 10,000th battery this year and is taking on new stakeholders ahead of a potential IPO, according to its founder, Christoph Ostermann. Sonnen gained $85 million in a fresh financing round this fall, helped by new stakeholders Envision Energy and Thomas Putter, the former chairman of Allianz Capital Partners GmbH, said Ostermann.
Sonnen is seeking cash to develop its “virtual utility†business globally, stealing a march on Tesla and challenging conventional utilities, he said in a phone interview Oct. 14. The company is hooking up solar battery owners to allow them to share power and seeks sales in balancing conventional grids, said Ostermann. He envisages an IPO in one or two years.
“We’re not putting ourselves under stress,†he said. Sonnen has added the U.S., Australia, the U.K. and Italy to its home market. It may seek a share sale in Germany or the U.S. and has already adopted International Financial Reporting Standards accounting procedures. Tesla Chairman Elon Musk said in Berlin in 2014 that the U.S., Australia and Germany are focus areas for Powerwall sales and add-on services, a strategy that Sonnen shares. Helped by subsidies, some 32,000 solar batteries were sold in Germany last year.
Envision, which has branched out as China’s second-biggest wind turbine maker into power management solutions, will help Sonnen’s network plans with software expertise, said Ostermann. GE Ventures, another stakeholder, is also advising on technology.