AKASOL AG
DGAP-News: AKASOL AG / Key word(s): Expansion AKASOL builds large new headquarters in Darmstadt
Darmstadt, March 27, 2019. AKASOL AG ("AKASOL", ISIN DE000A2JNWZ9), a leading German manufacturer of high-performance lithium-ion battery systems for buses, commercial vehicles, rail cars, industrial vehicles, ships and stationary applications, is growing, as in the IPO announced in 2018, continuously and will build their new headquarters in southwest Darmstadt. On a 20,000 square meter site, the battery technology company plans to build a new 7,000 square meter main administration building by mid-2020, as well as a state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly test and inspection center. In addition, a 15,000 square meter two-story production, assembly and logistics hall will be built. The planned total investment volume is in the mid double-digit million euro range. On March 26, 2019, AKASOL AG acquired a property of 20,000 square meters in southwest Darmstadt (former Kelley Barracks) from the Federal Agency for Real Estate Tasks (BImA). The development will be financed as planned and announced by a part of the net issue proceeds of around EUR 100 million from the successful IPO in June 2018. Additionally, AKASOL plans to finance the construction project through a bank loan. Construction on the new site is scheduled for April 2019. According to current planning, the completion of the new headquarters in mid 2020 is expected. "The extremely dynamic growth of AKASOL requires a massive expansion of office and production capacity. In addition, it is important that we strengthen our development site with a new state-of-the-art test and inspection center that meets all the needs of our battery systems developers. I am happy and proud to be able to offer our richly deserved and highly motivated employees the innovative and comfortable jobs they need in the future to advance our company. A special thank you goes to Mayor Partsch for his decisive support. In a not very simple environment, he personally made himself strong for the establishment of AKASOL and repeatedly mediated personally between the different authorities and our company. All in all, the city of Darmstadt has created the necessary framework conditions to enable our company to expand its location and thus achieve further growth," said Sven Schulz, CEO of AKASOL AG. "Our continuous investments in research and development, as well as the bundling and expansion of testing and inspection capacities, have become necessary due to the very good order situation of our company. AKASOL thus makes a notable contribution to the traffic revolution in the field of commercial vehicles not only in Germany but throughout Europe and worldwide." Essentially, two buildings will be erected on the property. On the one hand, the four-story main administration building with a gross floor area of 7,000 square meters, which will receive a modern exterior architecture, thus creating ideal working conditions for up to 500 employees. On the other hand, the adjoining production, assembly and warehouse area will have a gross floor space of 15,000 square meters distributed over two-stories, both for the expansion of series production and for the production of small batches. In addition, prototype and model construction, service workshops, the warehouse and the state-of-the-art test and inspection center for battery system development are to be accommodated there. All in all, the new hall is four times as large as the current production location in Langen, which will be preserved. The new head office will replace the previous branch offices in the Darmstadt Schenck technology and industrial park. The production capacities planned at the new location will be based on new customer order volumes, which are currently still being negotiated. In the USA, the production site for series production for the North American market is scheduled to go into operation at the end of 2019. Contact: AKASOL AG, Isabel Heinen Phone: +49 (0) 6103 48567-26 I Email: isabel.heinen@akasol.com About AKASOL AKASOL is a leading German manufacturer of high-performance lithium-ion battery systems for buses, commercial vehicles, rail vehicles, industrial vehicles, ships and boats. With almost 30 years of experience AKASOL is a pioneer in the development and manufacture of lithium-ion battery systems for commercial applications. AKASOL AG's shares are traded on the Prime Standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since June 29, 2018. Based in Germany, AKASOL operates a production facility in Langen (Hesse) with an annual production capacity of up to 300 MWh, which will be expanded to 800 MWh by 2020. According to AKASOL, this is Europe's largest lithium-ion battery system production plant for commercial vehicles, which can currently produce battery systems per year for up to 1,500 fully electric buses or for up to 3,000 medium-sized commercial vehicles, depending on battery size. AKASOL systems are manufactured according to the requirements of the industry standards of leading OEM customers. Current customers include Daimler, a Scandinavian bus and truck manufacturer, Alstom, Bombardier, Rolls-Royce Power Systems (MTU Friedrichshafen) and several more. AKASOL has a technology-independent product portfolio. This allows the company to use the best battery cells and battery chemistry according to the clients' individual needs. Sven Schulz (CEO) and Carsten Bovenschen (CFO) constitute the executive board of AKASOL AG, based in Darmstadt (Hesse). Co-founders of the company are Felix von Borck, Dr. Björn Eberleh and Stephen Raiser. DISCLAIMER Statements contained herein may constitute "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by the use of the words "may," "will," "should," "plan," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "believe," "intend," "project," "goal" or "target" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause the Group's or its industry's actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and the Group does not undertake publicly to update or revise any forward-looking statement that may be made herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
27.03.2019 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. |
| Language: | English |
| Company: | AKASOL AG |
| Landwehrstrasse 55 | |
| 64293 Darmstadt | |
| Germany | |
| Phone: | +49 6151/800 500 |
| E-mail: | info@akasol.com |
| Internet: | www.akasol.com |
| ISIN: | DE000A2JNWZ9 |
| WKN: | A2JNWZ |
| Listed: | Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Munich, Stuttgart, Tradegate Exchange |
| EQS News ID: | 792145 |
| End of News | DGAP News Service |
792145 27.03.2019