The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on December 4. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Ernst & Young to Pay $117.6 Million to Settle Sino-Forest Shareholder Suit (English article)
- Strategic Materials Advisory Council Lauds A123 Sale Congressional Opposition (Businesswire)
- CNZZ: Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) Search Traffic Share Down Slightly in November (English article)
- LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) Reports Financial Results for Q3 of Fiscal 2012 (PRNewswire)
- China’s Wanda In Talks With “Well-Known” Hotels For US Buys (English article)
There’s a flurry of news coming from the embattled solar sector, led by a sharp cutback by Suntech (NYSE: STP) at its main US plant that looks suspiciously like it is being ordered by Beijing part of a government rescue plan for the struggling company. Meantime, JA Solar (Nasdaq: JASO) and LDK (NYSE: LDK) are struggling just to stay listed as their market values quickly evaporate. And in a rare but fleeting piece of good news, Yingli (NYSE: YGE), Trina (NYSE: TSL) and others are getting a temporary boost as they reclaim money they previously set aside but will no longer need to use as provisions in the US anti-dumping investigation against them.
Solar panel maker LDK (NYSE: LDK) started its long march to a takeover by the state with a major stake sale this week, but the equally cash-starved Suntech (NYSE: STP) looks like it may put up a bigger fight to maintain its independence. What’s happening at Suntech comes down to a single word: Pride. The latest twist at Suntech also has broader implications, as the kind of pride we’re seeing from founder Shi Zhengrong could foreshadow similar resistance we’re likely to see at many of the nation’s other solar panel makers.
Struggling solar cell maker Suntech (NYSE: STP) has just issued a euphemistically upbeat plan on how it intends to “solidify market leadership,” as it tries to return to health amid a prolonged industry downturn that has seen prices plunge more than 70 percent over the last 2 years. But investors are clearly focused on the last part of the plan, specifically discussing how the company intends to deal with nearly $600 million in convertible bonds that will come due in March next year. The process of renegotiating that debt is likely to be a long one, and is hardly guaranteed success without major support from Beijing and other government entities.
Despite China’s best efforts to avoid it, a much needed day of reckoning seems to be drawing nearer for the bloated global solar panel industry, which should include a major shake-up for Chinese firms that supply over half the world’s output. The latest signs of a looming judgment day are coming in news that US firm MiaSole has just agreed to be purchased by a Chinese buyer, and from Chinese giant LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK), which disclosed it has received a brief reprieve from its lenders for repayment of its rapidly souring debt.
Traditional consolidation in industries suffering from overcapacity typically sees stronger companies merge and weaker ones close, resulting in a healthier, more sustainable sector where everyone is profitable. But such conventional “right sizing” is less common in China, where struggling companies in strategic industries are often kept alive through financial and other support from local governments that are highly reluctant to let those ventures simply fail or be purchased by outsiders. Such artificial support may save jobs, but it does nothing to solve the overcapacity problem that created the need for consolidation in the first place. That’s exactly the dilemma facing China’s struggling solar sector, which is now posting huge losses even though we’ve yet to see players close or merge despite a flurry of such activity in the West. In the absence of proper consolidation, Chinese companies appear to be taking the next-best logical step by shuttering idle capacity and implementing massive layoffs in a bid to stem their losses, according to one report. (
