2010-04-29
Solar Millennium AG files charges for malicious damage of
reputation
Erlangen, 29 April 2010 Following several relevant requests by the media, who were obviously deliberately provided with misleading and reputation-damaging information, Solar Millennium AG (ISIN DE0007218406) has today filed charges against unknown persons. During the weeks after the resignation of the former CEO in mid-March 2010, daily and weekly newspapers repeatedly and increasingly confronted the Company and its Supervisory Board with allegations based on information that is only known to a very small number of high-level executives in the Company's top management. Referring to this information, it was tried to exert pressure on the Company by asking for statements on short notice. From the Company´s point of view there is not only a strong suspicion that industrial secrets were betrayed but also that false allegation were published in order to injure the Company's reputation.
"In our view it is no coincidence that internal business operations were communicated to the public systematically and repeatedly with the clear purpose of discrediting the Company, whereby the information was distorted or even downright untrue", the spokesman for the Management Board Thomas Mayer explains. "I believe these actions are of a criminal nature, against which we need to defend ourselves in the interest of our employees, customers and shareholders. We will do everything within our power to put a stop to this game and the persons responsible."
The Board of Directors and the Supervisory Board have submitted all relevant documents indicative of criminal actions to the Public Prosecution of Nuremberg-Fürth. Furthermore, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) has been involved to investigate the suspicion of intentional market manipulation. In this respect, Solar Millennium had already filed a complaint with the Public Prosecution of Nuremberg-Fürth on 10 February 2010.
"This is a systematic smear campaign against our Company, which we will not tolerate", says the Chairman of Solar Millennium AG's Supervisory Board Helmut Pflaumer. "The factual issues are being investigated by external parties at the moment. However, these attacks exceed the level of factual argumentation by far. The aim is to willfully defame a success story and we will defend ourselves against this with all available means."
About Solar Millennium AG:
Solar Millennium AG, Erlangen, is an international company in the renewable energy sector, with its main focus on solar-thermal power plants. Together with its subsidiaries and associates, the Company specializes in parabolic trough power plants and has managed to take a globally leading position in this field. Solar Millennium strives to further extend its expertise in the area of solar-thermal power plants with the aim of achieving and securing sustainable technology leadership. As such, the Company covers all important business sectors along the value chain for solar-thermal power plants: from project development and financing to the technology and the turnkey construction and operation of power plants. In Spain, Solar Millennium developed Europe's first parabolic trough power plants and realized these together with partners. Additional projects are planned around the world with an overall capacity of more than 2,000 megawatts: here the current regional focus is on Spain, the US, India, China, the Middle East and North Africa. More information is available at www.SolarMillennium.com
About solar-thermal power plant technology:
Solar-thermal power plants generate electricity by converting solar radiation into heat energy. In a parabolic trough power plant, trough-shaped mirrors concentrate the incidental radiation onto a pipe in the focal line of the collector. Its absorption heats a fluid heat medium in the pipe, generating steam in the power block through a heat exchanger. As in conventional power plants, the steam powers a turbine to generate electricity. By integrating thermal storage, electricity can be supplied on demand, even after sunset.
You can download this press release here.
