Potential white knight waiting in the wings as private sector bond defaulter struggles to restructure debt
- China Singyes Solar Technologies Holdings has already defaulted on one bond, with another US$260 million paper due next month
- Company had US$904 million of outstanding debt as of June
China Singyes Solar Technologies Holdings, whose shares fell as much as 72 per cent in Hong Kong last week after a three-month trading suspension, is in talks with at least three potential buyers for its assets.
The Zhuhai, Guangdong-based solar farm operator had defaulted on a one-year, US$160 million offshore bond in October and is in danger of defaulting on another two-year, US$260 million offshore bond due next month.
“Since news of our default broke, many potential buyers have knocked on our doors,” controlling shareholder and chairman Liu Hongwei told investors via teleconference on Friday.
“We have inked non-binding [memorandum of ] understandings with at least three of the financially stronger ones on potential solar farms’ sale.”
The would-be buyers will need one to two months to conduct due diligence on the assets and submit bids, he said, adding Singyes had received an indicative bid of 7 yuan per watt from a potential bidder in Guangdong province.
The company has a combined generating capacity of 467.8 megawatts (MW).