SolarEdge Facility in America (solaredge.com)
SolarEdge, an Israeli producer of alternative energy resources, is rebounding after losing 70% of its value since the start of 2023 – or $11 billion from its market cap. The company’s shares just jumped by 30% since last Wednesday, which some attribute to the federal reserves cut in interest rates expected to come in 2024. At the same time, the major Israeli firm Azrieli Group is having some problems and just announced plans to shutter its Azrieli.com e-commerce website after just six years in operation.
The closure of Azrieli.com comes with the termination of dozens of employees. Calcalist reported that the endeavor lost $90 million since its inception.
“The decision to close was made based on the group’s assessments that the e-commerce market in Israel is still not developed enough, with a low penetration percentage and a significant presence of global websites,” said the Azrieli Group about the decision to close down Azrieli.com. “Over the years, the group’s e-commerce activity has undergone a significant transformation, and changes were made to adapt the product offering to the tastes of the Israeli consumer. Additionally, the entire technological infrastructure was rebuilt.”
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Unfortunately for Azrieli Group, However, the firm said these efforts did not meet a large enough market to “justify additional investments in the field.”
The Azrieli Group is Israel’s largest publicly traded real estate company. The firm says it builds, owns, and operates landmark office complexes, shopping malls, senior homes, data centers, mixed-use properties, hotels, and long-term rental residences, both in Israel and abroad, and also operates Israel’s leading e-commerce platform Azrieli.com. The firm’s income-producing properties extend over 1.3 million SQM.
As for SolarEdge, the firm’s rebound may also be related the its forming of a joint venture (JV) last summer with Saudi Arabia’s Ajlan & Bros Holding (ABH), one of the largest private sector conglomerates in the Middle East and North Africa region. The JV entity will be established in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The two firms said the JV was formed to support the deployment of smart renewable energy solutions in Saudi Arabia, in-line with the Saudi Vision 2030 initiative that aims to reduce the country’s dependence on oil by the end of this decade. Leveraging the established position of ABH in Saudi Arabia and the vast experience accumulated by SolarEdge in smart energy technology. The JV will offer enterprises in the country solutions from SolarEdge’s portfolio of systems for energy generation, storage, and management as well as site modeling and energy transition consultancy.
Founded in 2006, SolarEdge is a global leader in smart energy technology. The company states that it creates smart energy solutions that “power our lives and drive future progress.”
SolarEdge developed the DC optimized inverter solution that changed the way power is harvested and managed in photovoltaic (PV) systems. The SolarEdge intelligent inverter solution maximizes power generation while lowering the cost of energy produced by the PV system, for improved RoI.
SolarEdge first went public in January 2021. At the time it set a record for an Israeli public corporation, hitting a valuation of almost $18 billion. Today its market cap is still above $17 billion. The acquisition of Hark is expected to enable SolarEdge to offer its commercial and industrial (C&I) customers expanded capabilities in energy management and connectivity, including identification of potential energy savings, detection of anomalies in assets’ energy consumption, and optimization of energy usage and carbon emissions through load orchestration and storage control.
