Nov 10, 2014 - The parent and some investors of GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd (HKG:3800) may acquire a combined 66% in troubled photovoltaics (PVs) maker Shanghai Chaori Solar Energy Science & Technology (SHE:002506) for CNY 1.46 billion (USD 239m/EUR 191m).
In addition, Hong Kong-based GCL-Poly unveiled plans for the sale of its 12-GW wafer production operations by the end of 2014.
In a statement on the Hong Kong stock exchange published Friday, GCL-Poly pointed out that the creditors of Chaori Solar and a Shanghai court had approved the firm's restructuring plan on October 28, 2014. It calls for a unit of GCL-Poly's parent Golden Concord Holdings and eight of its investors to jointly purchase 1.68 billion shares in Chaori Solar. Following completion of the scheme, Golden Concord Holdings’s subsidiary Jiangsu Golden Concord may own 30% or more direct or indirect interest in Chaori Solar.
Chaori Solar failed to make the full CNY-89.8-million coupon payment on its CNY-1-billion bond by the due date, March 7. This turned it into the first company to default on the bond market in China. In June, a Chinese court started proceedings for the firm’s bankruptcy restructuring upon the request of a supplier. The Chinese firm has solar power generation assets in China, Italy, Greece, the US and Bulgaria. In late August, Bloomberg quoted Chaori Solar’s vice president Liu Tielong as saying that the firm had resumed production of PV panels at its factory in Shanghai.
Meanwhile, GCL-Poly, which makes silicon wafers and also produces power from solar and wind farms, biomass-fueled and thermal power plants, said it is considering to offload its wafer manufacturing business to an independent third party. The buyer may or may not subsequently sell the wafer production activities to Zhu Gongshan, the chairman and executive director of GCL-Poly, or his associates. GCL-Poly expects to sign agreements related to the disposal by the end of this year, it said, without specifying the reasons for the move.
As at June 30, GCP-Poly had polysilicon production capacity of 65,000 tonnes and annual wafer production capacity of 12 GW. In China, the company owns 1,148.1 MW of installed power capacity, including 256.3 MW of solar farms, it said this summer.
(CNY 1.0 = USD 0.164/EUR 0.131)
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Solar array. Author: David Goehring. License: Creative Commons
