Meyer Burger secures financing of $40 million.
Keystone-SDA
There is a glimmer of hope for the ailing Swiss solar company Meyer Burger. The company has concluded a bridge financing of $39.48 million (CHF34.7 million) with certain bondholders to stabilise the situation.
+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox
Meanwhile, negotiations with Desri, the company’s largest customer following its abrupt termination in mid-November, and the bondholders are continuing, Meyer Burger said on Friday. The company thus has liquidity to conclude an agreement for a sustainable restructuring solution, it said. A final agreement is reportedly being sought in the course of December.
The bridge financing is divided into several tranches, which can be drawn upon reaching certain “milestones”. According to the announcement, the facility will expire on January 17, 2025, at the latest. The first tranche of $19.7 million is to be drawn immediately.
+ Meyer Burger replaces top management and cuts 200 jobs
The availability of the remaining tranches is dependent on additional milestones, as detailed in the press release. The lenders are funds that are already bondholders of Meyer Burger.
In mid-November, the largest customer Desri terminated the contract with Meyer Burger without notice. Since then, the company has been in “constructive talks” regarding the terms of a new agreement, Meyer Burger said. According to the information, a successful agreement with Desri is one of the prerequisites for drawing additional funds from the facility.
+ China’s solar dominance will ‘push countries to adopt clean technologies’
“An updated agreement with Desri, to the extent executed, is expected to take into account Meyer Burger’s changed financial and operational position and is expected to be finalised during December,” the company said.
In addition, Meyer Burger announces that it had appointed Alvarez & Marsal as restructuring adviser. This will enable the company to strengthen its focus on the ongoing operational transformation and efficiency improvements in the business.
Translated from German by DeepL/ts
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
