EverQ postpones IPO, changes name

Saxony-Anhalt, Germany-based solar producer EverQ said today it plans to delay its public offering because of the financial crisis.

The company, which also announced today its name-change to Sovello, produces silicon wafers, solar cells and solar modules.

EverQ is a joint venture of Thalheilm-based Q-Cells, Oslo's Renewable Energy Corp., and Marlboro, Mass.-based Evergreen Solar (Nasdaq: ESLR).

The name change signals that the company has grown so rapidly that it plans to begin operating more independently from its parent organizations. EverQ was a manufacturing-only play, but Sovello will take on the responsibility of its own market positioning and marketing.

The company's sales in the first three quarters of this year of €170 million ($220 million) are 115 percent higher than the same period in 2007. During that time, production volume increased to 64 megawatts-peak, up from 28 MWp in the same period last year.

The company's previously-announced third production line is expected to begin operating in the spring, Sovello said today. The plant in Thalheim is on track, with sample batches providing good results.

The line is expected to increase the company's production capacity from 100 MWp up to 180 MWp per year.

Sovello first announced plans for the IPO last year, saying it would finance a major expansion (see EverQ partners plan for an offering). The IPO was scheduled for spring 2009 but has been suspended, with the company now vowing to wait for the optimal time to generate additional investment capital.

With the name change, the company also switched its organization from gesellschaft mit beschränkter haftung (GmbH), or limited-liability, to aktiengesellschaft (AG), or public limited. The move better aligns Sovello to acquire outside capital for business expansion, officials said.

Evergreen and Q-Cells formed EverQ in January 2005, with REC coming on board in November of that year. EverQ supplies Evergreen-branded products, and the two companies plan to continue working together after the IPO under a five-year cross licensing agreement to share all new material technology development on Evergreen's String Ribbon platform (see Evergreen Solar SunEdison contract now over $500m and Evergreen inks $100M deal).

All of Sovello's plants use the String Ribbon process, which uses approximately half the silicon and avoids the sawing of conventional approaches, the companies say. The new plant in Thalheim is expected to use Evergreen's new Quad furnace technology with automated ribbon cutting.

Sovello employs approximately 1,100.