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Q-Cells To File For Insolvency Tuesday

Q-Cells To File For Insolvency Tuesday
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Δευ, 2 Απριλίου 2012 - 18:21
German solar energy component maker Q-Cells SE (QCE.XE) said Monday it intends to file for insolvency Tuesday, following months of efforts to restructure its debt and secure its survival.
German solar energy component maker Q-Cells SE (QCE.XE) said Monday it intends to file for insolvency Tuesday, following months of efforts to restructure its debt and secure its survival.

"Following an intensive review of alternative concepts for the implementation of the financial restructuring, the executive board has reached the conclusion that a going concern of the company cannot be restored on a sufficiently secure legal basis," Q-Cells said in a written statement.

It added that the company's management intends to jointly secure the future existence of Q-Cells with an insolvency administrator in the proceedings that will begin Tuesday.

The announcement marks the temporary climax of the rapid decline of a former showcase company in the nascent but steadily expanding solar energy industry.

In 2007, Q-Cells was the world's largest manufacturer of photovoltaic solar cells and had a market valuation of around EUR8 billion. At present, the company is valued at less than EUR50 million.

Like many of its European competitors, Q-Cells has been suffering from a massive erosion of prices for its products, with industry observers attributing the sharp drop to increasingly tough competition from Asian low-cost peers that import their products to Europe.

Q-Cells had aimed to comprehensively restructure its debt, seeking approval from creditors to defer payment of a convertible bond that is due in 2012.

Two other bonds--due in 2014 and 2015--would have been swapped for shares in a debt-to-equity swap. The move would have given creditors control of around 95% of Q-Cell's share capital, massively diluting existing shareholders.

The debt restructuring, however, had been legally challenged by some creditors and Q-Cells last week warned that the process has been derailed by a court ruling that affected similar undertaking by wood processor Pfleiderer AG (PFD4.XE).

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