BayWa Pushes Ahead With 25 MW Agrivoltaic Project as Restructuring Deadline Looms and Q1 Report Nears
24.05.2026 - 14:41:57 | boerse-global.de
The crisis gripping BayWa shows no sign of easing, but beneath the surface the group's renewable energy arm is quietly demonstrating that the operating engine is still running. In the French commune of Montmorillon, a planned photovoltaic park with a capacity of around 25 megawatts has reached an advanced stage. The project will cover 43 hectares of fallow land and combine solar panels with agricultural use such as vegetable cultivation or sheep grazing — an agrivoltaic approach that could generate enough electricity for more than 7,000 households.
To build local support, the management ran a crowdfunding campaign that drew a five-figure sum from residents. While that amount is negligible for a company of BayWa's size, the project's development status matters far more. The prefecture has already deemed the environmental permit dossier complete, and the formal public consultation period ends this Sunday.
The contrast with the parent company's stock price could not be starker. The shares closed Friday at €12.95, marking a decline of roughly 40 percent from the 52-week high of €21.50. Over the past twelve months, the stock has shed about a third of its value, and this year alone it is down nearly 25 percent. The gap of close to 20 percent to the 200-day moving line underscores the persistent downward pressure.
What makes the coming weeks critical is a set of three interlocking conditions that BayWa must meet by autumn 2026. First, the company needs a fully audited annual financial statement for 2025, which has been postponed to the fourth quarter of 2026. Second, it requires bank approval for the deferment — specifically from DZ Bank and UniCredit/HVB. Third, the sale of the New Zealand fruit subsidiary T&G Global must be completed. If any one of these three legs fails, the entire restructuring plan finalised under the StaRUG framework in May 2025 collapses.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying BayWa?
The sale of T&G Global is already under way. Goldman Sachs has been seeking a buyer since March 2026. BayWa holds 74 percent of the unit, which generated $1.3 billion in revenue and returned to profit with $16 million net income in 2024. The expected proceeds hover around €300 million. Interested parties include agriculture-focused private equity firms Roc Partners, Paine Schwartz and Hancock. A complication is Hong Kong-based Joy Wing Mau Group's nearly 20 percent stake, which makes a majority acquisition trickier. Against the group's overall divestment target of €4 billion by 2028, BayWa has so far secured only €1.3 billion.
Meanwhile, oversight is being tightened. A court has appointed three independent experts to the supervisory board: Dr. Ines Kapphan, Solveig Menard-Galli and Christine Rittner-Koch. Shareholders will ratify those appointments at the 2026 annual general meeting. From 2028, capital-side representatives will be elected annually in subgroups and terms of office will shrink from five to four years. More immediately, the approval threshold for executive board transactions has been slashed from €200 million to €50 million.
Legal risks also loom. The Munich I public prosecutor's office is investigating former chief executives Klaus Josef Lutz and Marcus Pöllinger on suspicion of breach of trust and false presentation in the 2023 annual report. The audit oversight body Apas is also examining PricewaterhouseCoopers, which issued an unqualified audit opinion for that year. All parties are presumed innocent.
BayWa at a turning point? This analysis reveals what investors need to know now.
The first real test of whether the restructuring is on track comes with the quarterly report on May 26. CFO Marlen Wienert has indicated that liquidity has reached its highest level since the start of the crisis. The question is whether that will translate into the operating metrics. Given the stock's extreme volatility, a miss on expectations could trigger another sharp slide. BayWa has issued no guidance for 2026; the adjusted EBITDA target for 2027 stands at around €140 million. By the end of 2028, the group plans to concentrate on four core businesses, cut about 1,300 jobs and reduce revenue to roughly €10 billion. The Montmorillon solar park is a reminder that the operating side can still deliver — but the next few days will show whether the numbers for the rest of the company can hold the plan together.
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