Story and photo By Patrick O’Grady | Phoenix Business Journal
ABB Group, an international player in power technology and renewable energy, is buying Power-One Inc. in a $1 billion deal that will create a major player for solar systems.
The deal, announced early Monday, will have the Zurich-based ABB paying $6.35 per share for Camarillo, Calif.-based Power-One, a 57 percent premium over the company’s share closing price on April 19.
Power-One has a large manufacturing center in Phoenix where it makes various inverters for rooftop and utility-scale solar systems.
It is those inverters that made Power-One so attractive for ABB, said Joe Hogan, ABB’s chief executive officer.
“We believe we are creating a global leader in solar inverter technology,” he said.
Richard Thompson, CEO of Power-One, said the two companies have very complimentary technology lines.
“We believe the strength of each company in the solar space is the highly complimentary product lines,” he said.
Power-One had revenues of more than $1 billion last year, and ABB had revenues of $6.1 billion. While Power-One focuses exclusively on inverters as the source of its revenue, ABB had about $100 million from its startup inverter operations.
Inverters are devices used on solar and wind systems that change the direct current electricity generated by the devices into the alternating current used by consumer goods.
ABB has offices throughout the U.S. but no presence in Arizona. Power-One opened its operations in Arizona more than two years ago at a former Avnet Inc. facility.
The companies did not specify how the Phoenix facility would fit into ABB’s operations. There are roughly 450 Phoenix-area Power-One employees, according to the Phoenix Business Journal’s Book of Lists.
Power-One isn’t the first company to draw ABB’s interest. It also has invested in Ecotality Inc., which has its North American operations based in Phoenix. That agreement was for electric vehicle charging systems.
If you’d like to discuss energy issues, contact Court Rich, Co-Chair of Rose Law Group’s Renewable Energy Department at crich@roselawgroup.com
