Wind turbine maker Siemens Energy (SE) said today it has had to ask the German government for a bail-out, sending its share price crashing by almost a third.
A spin-off from the engineering giant Siemens, SE said it is evaluating various measures to strengthen its balance sheet and is in preliminary talks with banking partners and the German government to enable it to fund its operations.
More than €3 billion was wiped off the value of SE following the announcement, which sent the shares to an all-time low.
SE hit the skids earlier this year when it warned its wind arm Gamesa would have to change rotor blades and gears in its new range of turbines after a "substantial increase" in failure rates of the components.
Bloomberg reported yesterday that Gamesa is considering a whole range of turbines to replace the problem-ridden 5.X platform, something that one analyst said would be “very costly”.
Reports in Germany suggested SE is seeking up to €15 billion in guarantees.
Of this, the German government would assume liability for 80% of an initial €10 billion funding tranche, while its banks would be liable for the remaining 20%,
Siemens, its former parent, refused to comment on suggestions it would guarantee a second tranche of the remaining €5 billion euros.
The engineer retains a 25.1% stake in SE.
Siemens Energy shares were trading at €7.51, down 30% in early afternoon trading.