Switzerland’s Airlight Energy Weighs Initial Public Offering

Oct. 3 (Bloomberg) — Airlight Energy Holding SA, a privately-held Swiss designer of solar power equipment, is weighing options including an initial public offering in the next 12 to 24 months, a company executive said.

The company, which has allied with International Business Machines Corp. to develop a concentrated solar power dish, will break even within the next two years and that will assist a potential public offering or trade sale, Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pozzorini said in an interview on Tuesday.

The company won’t disclose future sales figures or comment on where it may list, as discussions about an IPO are still at a preliminary stage, Pozzorini said.

The dish created with IBM uses high-concentration photovoltaic cells to create power for buildings as well as hot water and air conditioning. The companies expect to market the system via local distributors to residences, hospitals and hotels.

Using a separate technology, the Swiss company is also constructing a pilot solar power system for a cement plant in Ait Baha, Morocco that’s owned by Ciments du Maroc, a subsidiary of Italy’s Italcementi SpA.

The Biasca, Switzerland-based company with about 60 employees has raised 110 million francs ($115 million) since it was founded in 2007. Three of the four board members, Francesco Bolgiani, Carlo Penati, Fabio Testori and Lino Cardarelli, are among the largest investors, Pozzorini said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Patrick Winters in Zurich at [e-mail] To contact the editors responsible for this story: Simon Thiel at [e-mail] Andrew Noel, Thomas Mulier