Low pricing key in solar sector crisis: UBS

A view of solar panels, set up on what will be the biggest integrated solar panel roof of the world, in a farm in Weinbourg, Eastern France February 12, 2009.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Investors should look for solar companies offering their products at lower prices compared with their peers, as they are likely to emerge as winners from the current industry crisis, a UBS fund manager told Reuters.

"Companies with either a unique offering, strong (balance sheet), healthy order book, access to end customers and low pricing will most likely be the winners," Jan Peterhans, manager of UBS' Global Innovators Fund, said in an interview.

He aded European solar module makers will continue to lose market share to more aggressive Asian players who are offering their products at much lower prices.

"The Asian players in the sector have caught up -- mainly through lower prices -- while the European (players) have lost ground. And this will continue for a while. In the end, it's about costs. Modules will become a commodity."

The UBS fund has among its top 10 holdings European renewable companies such as Spanish wind power companies Iberdrola Renovables and Gamesa Corp, as well as Wacker Chemie, a German company that also makes silicon for the solar industry.

Wacker "operates in a part of the solar value chain where competition is not as high as in the area of modules and installation. They are delivering high quality in a very capital-intense business," Peterhans said.

European solar companies have already started to move production to low-cost countries as Asian players eat into their domestic markets, but it will take time before this translates into hard figures.

Oversupply of cells and modules as well as tight financing conditions has pushed the solar industry into crisis, with consolidation taking place through M&A as well as dropouts, but Peterhans hit a cautious note about what path consolidation will take in the future.

"M&A activity will be limited. It's not what the industry needs at the moment," he said.

With a value of some 400 million euros ($574.2 million), Peterhans' fund has a three-pronged investment approach, investing in the sectors of climate change, water and demography. Its value is up about 23 percent so far this year.

By comparison, the FTSE clean tech index and the S&P global clean energy index have gained 19 percent and 8.4 percent, respectively, during the same period.

(Editing by David Holmes)