Ardian set centrotherm's exit at €8.74 a share, then the order forecast nearly tripled

centrotherm published its first full set of accounts this morning since 15 May, the day its majority owner fixed what the Blaubeuren toolmaker's outside shareholders will be paid to leave ². The numbers argue both ways: EBITDA fell to €4.8m from €14.7m, and the same release↗ confirms the 2026 order-intake outlook was raised in August to €110–160m from €40–100m ¹. The disagreement is visible on the ticker: 56 cents between the €9.30 quote and the €8.74 on offer ⁷².

The price came first, the forecast after

On 17 December 2025, Ardian Semiconductor, a fund of the investment firm Ardian, which manages or advises about $196bn, closed its purchase of Solarpark Blautal's 90 percent stake↗, and its vehicle Centrotherm AcquiCo demanded a squeeze-out the same day ³. Solarpark Blautal reinvested part of the proceeds and stays at roughly 39.5 percent indirectly, so the founding Hartung family sits inside the buyer paying minorities €8.74 ³². On 15 May, AcquiCo fixed the compensation at €8.74 a share, and the court-appointed examiner signaled he would confirm the sum as adequate; the shares fell 24.02 percent to €9.65↗ ²⁶.

On 30 June the annual meeting approved the transfer↗, with small holders reported calling the payment inadequate ⁴. On 10 August the board raised the order forecast↗, citing Indian solar demand ⁵.

The exhibit for paying less

The half-year is a collapse on paper. Photovoltaic revenue fell to €10.4m from €33.3m, semiconductor revenue slipped to €67.7m from €71.2m, and Asia dropped to 59 percent of sales from 72 ¹. Capacity utilization stayed low, and the board still guides to €90–170m of total operating performance, with EBITDA significantly below 2025's €30.6m ¹⁴. Booked orders fell to €45.9m from €49.1m; what rose in August is the forecast, not the book ¹⁵.

The exhibit for paying more

What changed after the price was fixed is the future, not the past. The August raise rests on photovoltaic orders from India, where centrotherm says it held up better than expected despite high competitive pressure ⁵; the visible piece is April's Celloraa Energy order to equip a 1.2-GW TOPCon solar cell line ⁴. The segment that collapsed in revenue, solar, is the one whose demand forced the raise. Even the low end of the new guide needs more than €64m of fresh orders in the second half, above everything booked in the first ¹.

Both exhibits stay on the table until the register entry

The squeeze-out takes effect when the merger is entered in the commercial registers, and only then do the minorities' shares pass to AcquiCo ². Until that entry, both exhibits sit on one table: an income statement priced in May, an order forecast rewritten in August. The examiner signaled €8.74 was adequate in May's world ², and the shares have held above it at every reading this record shows: €9.65 on the day of the demand ⁶, €9.45 at the 5 August close ⁴, €9.30 on Tradegate today↗ ⁷.