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7th June 2016

Valuation of Sonnen GmbH – Estimation based on the GE investment

GE Ventures invested in Sonnen Gmbh as published by Sonnen on 6 th June 2016. See http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-06/ge-ventures-buys-stake-in-german-sonnen-to-boost-solar-storage

One can try to estimate the valuation of Sonnen based on this investment. It was published that GE Ventures bought a stake for a mid double digit million euro value which could mean a price somewhere between 30 and 70 million EUR. Since the investment was not a take-over GE Venture would have received a minority stake probably somewhere between 10% and 40%.

Based on these assumptions the valuation could be somewhere in the range from 100 to 400 million EUR probably rather in the range of 200 to 400 million EUR.

Putting this in context with the latest information that Sonnen sold 2600 batteries in Q1/2016, even out beating Tesla having sold 2500 batteries in the same period this deal seems to make sense for all parties. See www.pv-magazine.com/news/details/beitrag/sonnen-bests-teslas-powerwall-in-q1-battery-sales_100024518 .

It allows GE to participate in a leading German and international player for a reasonable valuation. Sonnen meanwhile gets a partner which is not only helpful for the US market but which allows Sonnen to “play with the big boys” on an international level. Sonnen will be able to develop further steadily while keeping up with Tesla which is not only valued roughly 100 times higher than sonnen but which is at the same time loaded with high expectations.