Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy has entered into exclusive non-binding negotiations with embattled wind OEM Senvion over a potential acquisition of selected service and onshore assets in Europe, free of financial debt.

"If negotiations succeed and final agreement is reached, a binding decision would be taken within the next weeks," Siemens Gamesa said in a note to the Spanish stock market signed by chief executive Markus Tacke.

Senvion in a note added that it expects a decision to be taken by the end of this month.

'Today's announcement means that we are close to finding a safe harbour for a significant part of the business and substantial parts of its employee base," Senvion chief executive Yves Rannou said.

"In these difficult circumstances, these are positive news. Looking ahead to the weeks to come, the management team will continue to put all efforts behind finding the best solutions possible for the rest of the business."

The companies didn't specify exactly which of Senvion's assets Siemens Gamesa would acquire.

Senvion has an onshore and offshore turbine manufacturing plant in Bremerhaven with a capacity of more than 1GW, and a factory in Portugal that can churn out under 1GW of wind turbines, as well as a blade plant in Portugal.

As Siemens Gamesa's own onshore wind turbine portfolio covers machines with up to 5.8MW, the German-Spanish turbine giant probably doesn't need Senvion's onshore technology.

The biggest prize may be Senvion's service contracts in Europe.

Senvion also has nacelle plant in India with a production capacity of up to 1GW, and extensive global service contracts.

Senvion said the agreement for a part-sale was approved unanimously by its creditors' committee. The approval of the insolvency plans by the creditors' assembly on 11 September enabled this transaction, the Germany-based manufacturer added.

Financial arrangements to secure Senvion's ongoing business activities over the timeline to conclude on the offer continue to be in place, the OEM added.

Wind turbine continuation projects are underway and will secure a majority of production jobs for the next months, with some going into 2020. For the remaining business areas, the company continues to explore further options and negotiations with investors.

Senvion late last month had said it had received several "advanced offers for substantial core parts of its business". The company at the occasion had made clear, however, that no offers for the entire turbine business unit have been received.

Earlier in August, the manufacturer announced that it would turn its Indian subsidiary into "an independent standalone operational business unit", which could have been a first step towards selling the Indian unit outright.

Senvion in April filed for insolvency under self-administration after talks with lenders failed.

An eventual transaction would have no financial impact on SGRE's fiscal year 2019 accounts.

UPDATED with detail on Senvion's production and service business