History
In March 2005, Conergy AG was registered at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, raising an estimated €243 million in its initial public offering (IPO).[13] Three months later, the company was added to the TecDAX index, in which it remained until March 2011.
In October 2007, Conergy entered into a ten-year contract with MEMC Electronic Materials worth US$7 billion for the supply of solar silicon wafers.[14] However, in April 2009, Conergy announced that it would file a lawsuit against the contract after a breakdown in renegotiation talks with MEMC, seeking the "invalidity of the contract by declaratory judgement in New York City".[15] In January 2010, MEMC announced that the lawsuit was settled out-of-court, with new terms for the contract agreed and MEMC receiving an undisclosed payment.[16]
In November 2007, with the company's share price having fallen by an estimated 43 percent that year, Hans-Martin Rüter stepped down as CEO and was replaced by supervisory board chairman Dieter Ammer, who took over as interim CEO. The company also announced that it had raised €100 million in capital, in response to a "shortfall in liquidity".[17]
In September 2008, LG Electronics announced a preliminary deal to form a joint venture with Conergy, its first in the field of solar energy. The deal was to be completed by the end of 2008 and see LG acquire a 75 percent stake in Conergy's Frankfurt solar panel plant.[18] However, due to the 2008 financial crisis], LG ended talks with Conergy.[19]
On 5 July 2013, Conergy filed for preliminary insolvency at the District Court of Hamburg, one of a succession of German solar manufacturers that collapsed under pressure from depressed prices due to oversupply by Chinese manufacturers.[20] Later that month, American private equity firm Kawa Capital Management announced it would buy the Conergy brand and some of the international sales and service units, without the manufacturing businesses.[21] In December 2013, the company applied to delist from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, with its final share price standing at just €0.04.[22]
In July 2014, the company secured a US$60 million credit guarantee arranged by Deutsche Bank to finance an expansion of its international projects business;[23] the company had already acquired insolvent Wirsol and the rights to 166 MW of UK projects from developer Lumicity earlier that year.[24][25] In order to focus on its downstream business, Conergy sold its distribution arms in the U.S. and Canada to Soligent and HES PV in October 2014, respectively.[26][27]
In August 2017, it was announced that Kawa Solar Holdings sold Conergy Asia & ME Pte. Ltd. and its subsidiaries to American private equity funds Tennenbaum Capital Partners LLC and Goldman Sachs BDC, a business development company managed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management.[28]
In August 2018, the Green Investment Group, a subsidiary of the Macquarie Group, completed its acquisition of the solar development portfolio and assets of Conergy Asia.[29]
In August 2019, Conergy rebranded as blueleaf energy. The rebranding was done to reflect the company’s changing focus from a solar EPC contractor to the ownership and operations of solar energy systems.
In March 2020, former CEO Alexander Lenz left Conergy for Aquila Capital.
