The trade service Dow Jones has announced that there is a second bidder for the Bonn company. According to reports, the Dutch group of companies Prisma Systems is interested in buying Solarworld.

„In case of a take-over of Solarworld, we see the possibility to keep the majority of the 1,850 jobs“, said Thomas Bornstein, CEO Prisma Systems, according to Dow Jones.

The head of the work council in Bonn, Peter Finger, requested insolvency administrator Horst Piepenburg to „seriously“ consider this offer. „We need to know most of all, what this could mean for the Bonn location“, said Finger.

Piepenburg, who was officially commissioned as insolvency administrator by the provincial court on Tuesday, had spoken about a round of talks with a group of investors last week, who would only keep 450 jobs at both Solarworld production sites in East Germany. 150 employees in the Bonn headquarters have been discharged, a further 65 are assigned to handle the execution.

Prisma Systems is - according to its own account - one of the largest builder and operator of regenerative power plants worldwide.

CEO Bornstein sees new chances for keeping the majority of jobs under the requirement of a new company structure for Solarworld with a stronger orientation focusing on the international market.

„We need clarity, fast“, declared Finger. „Bonn has a great image as a climate city with a huge network of NGOs. Those have great contacts, interesting for every investor.“ Finger underlined that the Bonn employees have not been given their notices yet. The notice period during an insolvency is three months at most. But many employees who are currently exempt from work are looking for new employment already. A lot of expertise could be lost to the possible buyer, if there is no decision, fast.

(Original text: Ulla Thiede; Translation: Mareike Graepel)