SFC Energy agreed to purchase selected fuel cells assets from small stationary hydrogen fuel cell business in Scandinavia
FC Energy AG, a leading provider of hydrogen and methanol fuel cells for stationary, portable and mobile hybrid power solutions, has, together with its newly established Danish subsidiary SFC Energy Denmark ApS (“SFC Denmark”), agreed with Ballard Power Europe Systems A/S (“BPSE”) to acquire selected assets from the small stationary hydrogen fuel cell business in Scandinavia, including IP rights and customer contracts.
BPSE is a subsidiary of Ballard Power Systems Inc. (“Ballard”), a pioneer in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEM fuel cells/PEMFC) headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. The purchase price is in the low single-digit million Euro range.
With this transaction, SFC is expanding its power range with two proven hydrogen fuel cell solutions with an output of 1.7 kW and 5 kW. As with SFC’s existing EFOY energy solutions, the standardized design allows multiple fuel cell modules to be clustered. In addition to the existing BPSE customer base, the promising sales pipeline is also part of the transaction.
The maintenance contracts for BPSE’s existing installed base of around 400 sites, mainly located in the Northern European countries of Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, will also be acquired, subject to customer consent. Furthermore, as part of the transaction, SFC Denmark will offer future employment to selected BPSE employees who are key knowledge holders and, while working at BPSE, spend the majority of their working time on matters relating to the relevant small stationary hydrogen assets.
SFC is actively driving market consolidation by acquiring assets for stationary hydrogen fuel cell solutions in the power range below 50 kW. The installed base and the associated established customer relationships form a solid foundation for further expansion in Northern Europe followed by other regions.
This is being accelerated by the establishment of SFC Denmark for sales, service, application engineering, and assembly. Research and development, as well as manufacturing, will be integrated into SFC’s existing organizations in Germany and Romania.
The acquisition is in line with SFC’s overarching growth strategy, which is based on three pillars: (1) Market penetration and international expansion, (2) technology and IP development, and (3) complementary M&A activity.
The SFC Management Board expects the new business to generate revenues in the mid-single-digit million Euro range and a positive contribution to EBITDA and EBIT starting in 2025.
The transaction, which is subject to obtaining requisite regulatory approval, is expected to close within 2024.
