Banks want Vestas-Mitsubishi deal by 2013

International bankers are clamoring for a Vestas-Mitsubishi partnership to be finalized.

A group of international banks have given Vestas Wind Systems a deadline of Jan. 1, 2013, to reach a strategic deal with Japanese industrial giant Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. seen as shoring up the troubled Danish wind turbine maker's finances, according to news reports.

International renewable-energy journal Recharge, citing a report in the Danish newspaper Berlingske, said nine of Vestas' banks are "keenly supportive" of a deal that could involved Mitsubishi taking a stake of up to 20 percent in Vestas.

The deal could also involve a role for Mitsubishi in development of Vestas' offshore turbines, Recharge said.

The banks "see a deal with Mitsubishi as key to getting the company back on track with its bank debt conditions," Recharge said of the Berlingske report. It was not reported what steps the banks might take if the deal isn't reached by the Jan. 1 deadline.

Vestas (Copenhagen: VWS) - which keeps its North American headquarters in Portland - said last week that it was engaged in an "ongoing dialog" with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries "regarding a potential strategic cooperation." Vestas did not describe the nature of the talks.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries - part of the Mitsubishi Group - makes a wide variety of products, including wind turbines as well as rockets, missiles, trucks and aircraft. Another arm of the Mitsubishi business empire is carmaker Mitsubishi Motors Corp.

Last month, Vestas said that it plans to cut an additional 1,400 jobs around the world by the end of the year to cut costs, on top of the 2,335 positions it already said it would cut.

The Danish wind turbine manufacturer already has cut an estimated 120 people at two of its Colorado plants in the last few weeks.

Vestas now employs about 400 people in Portland and more than 1,600 people in Colorado.