Germany-headquartered carbon fibre maker SGL Group – The Carbon Company – has sold its 100% stake in its rotor blade production unit, SGL Rotec. It has been agreed not to disclose the purchase price or contractual details. This is part of its restructuring exercise and it had last month announced job cuts of up to 300 (http://www.plasticsandrubberasia.com/dec2013/company4.html), in line with its plan to refocus its core competency on carbon fibres and composites.

Dr. Jürgen Köhler, designated CEO of SGL Group said, “As part of the strategic repositioning of SGL Group, we are pulling out of rotor blade production and have sold our 100% stake in SGL Rotec. In future, we will in the carbon fibre business focus more strongly on our core competency of material development and production.”

As part of this transaction, the SGL Rotec site in Lemwerder (Lower Saxony), which currently employs approx. 550 people, will be completely acquired. The new owner is planning to expand the production and the site. A spokesperson of the investor says: “The employees of SGL Rotec are pioneers when it comes to processing carbon for the wind industry; they contribute to the further improvement of the global reputation of ‘Made in Germany’, particularly regarding modern environmental technologies. Our focus is on continuity and we will proceed on the path which SGL Group has embarked upon and grow further.”

As of January 2014, the company will operate under the brand name “Carbon Rotec”. It makes high-quality rotor blades for wind turbines and can count leading wind turbine producers among its customer base. The company is a pioneer in the use of new materials such as carbon fibres which, in conjunction with semiautomatic machining technology, allow for lighter, slimmer and at the same time more stable rotor blades specially designed for offshore applications and low-wind areas. For the future, a continued close cooperation with SGL Group as a supplier of carbon and glass fibre materials and regarding the development activities is planned.