Gibraltar acquires solar racking company TerraSmart for $220 million –

Gibraltar Industries yesterday announced the further expansion of its solar energy portfolio through the acquisitions of TerraSmart and Sunfig. TerraSmart, a provider of screw-based, ground-mount solar racking technology, particularly used for solar projects installed on challenging terrain, was acquired for $220 million, subject to working capital adjustments. Sunfig, a provider of software solutions that optimize solar energy investments through upstream design, performance, and financial modeling, was acquired for $3.75 million in cash.

Gibraltar offered the following “strategic benefits” of the transactions:

1. Strengthen Gibraltar’s position as the largest turnkey provider in the domestic solar energy market with the broadest portfolio of ground-mount infrastructure, tracker, and design software solutions, serving customers of any type and/or size on any terrain.
2. Accelerate Gibraltar’s contribution toward the broader effort of making renewable energy more readily available for everyone, everywhere.
3. Scale Gibraltar to a $700 million solar energy platform within its Renewable Energy and Conservation segment over the next five years, enhancing Gibraltar’s revenue growth and margin profile and demonstrating the company’s commitment to increasing its participation in higher value and faster growing markets.

“Adding TerraSmart and Sunfig to our existing solar business significantly increases our presence in the $14.3 billion domestic solar energy market, strengthens our renewable energy platform, and advances our ambition to deliver higher growth and returns,” said President and Chief Executive Officer Bill Bosway. “Equally important, this continued investment demonstrates our ongoing commitment to making solar energy the best choice in energy production. We are very excited to have the TerraSmart and Sunfig teams join Gibraltar and help us advance our vision of creating meaningful value for our people, our communities and our shareholders.”

Transaction Highlights

On December 11, 2020, Gibraltar paid $3.75 million in cash for Sunfig.

On December 31, 2020, Gibraltar paid $228.2 million for TerraSmart, which represents the $220.0 million purchase price, increased by approximately $8.2 million for the estimated working capital adjustments, using a $85.0 million draw on its revolving credit facility and the assumption of $0.6 million of debt, with the remainder from cash on hand.

The combined transactions are expected to be immediately accretive to earnings.