BERLIN (Reuters) - Oil and gas major Shell (LON:RDSa) plans to put Germany's sonnen up for sale, German newspaper Handelsblatt reported on Thursday, with the solar storage manufacturer saying it had no comment but was focused on pursuing global growth of its business.
Shell paid around 500 million euros ($536 million) for sonnen four years ago, but like its rivals has had to grapple with falling retail profit margins as wholesale energy prices have risen exceptionally following last year's supply crisis.
Last week, Shell said that it would sell its home energy retail business in the UK and Germany to British energy supplier Octopus Energy Group.
Handelsblatt's report cited several people familiar with the matter as saying sonnen could be valued at 1.35 to 1.8 billion euros, which is three to four times its expected 2023 sales of 450 million euros.
Spokespeople for Shell and sonnen declined to comment.
"Please understand that we will not comment on reports about Shell's business deals. In principle, sonnen is continuing its global growth course in the rapidly expanding storage market," a sonnen spokesperson said.
Sonnen, which provides storage batteries for rooftop solar systems, said last month that it has connected 25,000 homes to the grid, amassing 250 megawatt hours (MWh) of capacity in a latest milestone for the digital, renewable power community it is building up amongst its customers.
While 250 MWh is a tiny fraction of the power demand in Western countries, it puts sonnen in the top league of European electricity storage providers.
($1 = 0.9335 euros)