By Keith Bradsher | The New York Times
One of the world’s largest manufacturers of solar panels, Suntech Power, has nearly run out of cash and is poised to be taken over partly or entirely by the municipal government’s holding company in its hometown, Wuxi, China, solar industry executives and a Wuxi official said Wednesday.
A woman answering the phone in the executive offices of the group headquarters of Wuxi Guolian, the holding company, said that a deal had already been reached for the acquisition of Suntech, which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The woman declined to identify herself.
Rory Macpherson, Suntech’s director of investor relations, declined to address a question about Wuxi Guolian, saying by e-mail only, “It’s our policy not to comment on market rumors.”
Suntech has been driven to the financial brink by an obligation to pay more than $541 million to holders of convertible bonds at the end of this week. It stopped releasing financial reports last year after disclosing in July that it had invested in 530 million euros, or $690 million, worth of German bonds that might prove fraudulent. The company’s cash reserves have been dwindling, analysts have said, and Chinese state-owned banks have been reluctant in recent months to lend more.
Related: Suntech’s Goodyear closure: RLG Director of Renewable Energy Dept, Court Rich provides analysis
