Fotowatio, a Spanish firm owned by a consortium including General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), has purchased several solar farms from US firm MMA Renewable Ventures, a unit of Municipal Mortgage & Equity LLC, aka MuniMae. MuniMae missed an SEC-imposed deadline for filing its 2006 10-K, and was delisted from the NYSE. It was required to restate its financial statements for 2004, 2005, and 2006. MuniMae shares now trade over-the-counter, and the company has been shedding assets to raise cash.
The sale of its renewable ventures business will bring MuniMae $19.7 million, and includes a 14-MW solar farm at Nevada’s Nellis Air Force Base and more than 400 MW of new development. Fotowatio claims to have invested more than $880 million in solar projects since 2006, and has plans to add as much as $3.2 billion more by 2012.
This investment is not even a blip on GE’s radar. Fotowatio does not even appear by name in the company’s 10-K for 2008. Still, renewables are high on GE’s agenda, and deals like this one for distressed properties are no-brainers. It may be bottom-feeding, but it’s cheap and could pay off someday. At least, that’s probably what GE thinks.
Paul Ausick
March 3, 2009
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