Conergy also said that the drop in polysilicon prices had turned the market from a seller’s to a buyer’s and that legal doubts had emerged over the posibility of some contractual provisions of the contract, without specifying what these provisions may be. As a result, the contracts could be worthless.
Conergy plans a new one-year deal struck with MEMC in the next few days, otherwise legal action will start.
Conergy said it had already written down the prepayments made to MEMC in its annual accounts. Conergy could anticipate high one-time costs, but it would ‘open up new options for the future.’
“Conergy’s profitability comes first for us,” said Dieter Ammer, chief executive officer of Conergy. “The contract with MEMC signed by the previous management board does not reflect in any way the very strong decline in market prices for wafers. In addition, we have strong doubts about the legal structure of the contract. We would be prepared to accept the high costs of cancelling the contract because, on the one hand, they are not cash-effective and, on the other hand, they would improve Conergy’s profitability on a sustainable basis onwards. Of course, we would prefer an amicable solution.”
