Suntech: Corporate Action Notice- Termination Notice - July 14, 2015

Someone just forwarded this to me:

NOTICE TO HOLDERS OF AMERICAN DEPOSITARY SHARES EVIDENCED BY AMERICAN DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS REPRESENTING DEPOSITED ORDINARY SHARES OF: Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (In Official Liquidation) (the “Company”)ONE ADS REPRESENTS ONE SHARE Level 1 CUSIP: 86800C104

By virtue of the amended winding up petition which was presented on 13 January 2015, Yat Kit “Victor” Jong of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consultants (Shenzhen) Ltd, 11/F PricewaterhouseCoopers Centre, 2 Corporate Avenue, 202 Hu Bin Road, Shanghai 200021, People’s Republic of China and David Walker of PwC Corporate Finance & Recovery (Cayman) Limited, P.O. Box 258, Strathvale House, George Town, Grand Cayman, KY1-1104 (“PwC Cayman”) were appointed Joint Official Liquidators of the Company by Order of the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands (the “Grand Court”) on 27 January 2015 (the “Order”).

As a result of the Order, you are hereby notified, as owners and beneficial owners of the above American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”), that BNY Mellon (the “Depositary”) will terminate the Deposit Agreement, dated December 13, 2005, between the Company, BNY Mellon, as depositary, and the Owners and Beneficial Owners of ADRs (the “Deposit Agreement”) in accordance with section 6.02 of the Deposit Agreement (“Section 6.02”).

Pursuant to Section 6.02, the existing ADR facility will be terminated, effective 5:00 pm (New York Time) on September 14, 2015 (the “Termination Date”). From and after the Termination Date, only if the Depositary has sold the ordinary shares represented by the ADRs then outstanding, or received a distribution from the Company in respect of those shares, Owners and Beneficial Owners will receive the proceeds of any such sale and any distribution from the Company on a pro-rata basis and net of applicable taxes, fees, and charges. However, based upon information currently available to the Depositary, there appears to be reasonable grounds to believe that there is little to no likelihood that the Company’s shareholders or ADR owners will receive any distribution in respect of their ordinary shares or ADRs representing ordinary shares of the Company.

For further information regarding the status of the Official Liquidation or to obtain a copy of the Order, please contact Mr. Ryan Murray of PwC Cayman by email to ryan.murray@ky.pwc.com.

Update on Suntech Provisional Liquidation

"The JPLs have sought to progress the restructuring of the Company in conjunction with the Board together with the Liquidation Committee (“LC”) and initially attempted to negotiate a restructuring with Wuxi Guolian Development (Group) Co. Ltd (“Guolian”), however, for the reasons outlined in the JPLs’ Second Report to the Grand Court dated 25 April 2014 (the “Second Report”), Goulian withdrew from the restructuring process in February 2014. Both the Board and the LC have played an active role in providing feedback to the JPLs on the restructuring strategy.

In the absence of another external party willing to fund the restructuring of the Suntech Group, the JPLs, together with the Board and the LC have focused on reviewing the operations, future strategy and finances of the Company’s subsidiaries to determine whether a ‘self-restructuring’ could be achieved.

The JPLs have pursued a ‘self-restructuring’ strategy since the Second Report with the assistance of the Company’s stake holders; however, in consideration of the various matters discussed in detail throughout this report, it now appears that a ‘self-restructuring’ at the holding company level is unlikely.

Therefore, the JPLs have considered the appropriateness of the provisional liquidation and believe that the interests of the creditors may be best served by ending the provisional liquidation and placing the Company into Official Liquidation. This will allow an orderly wind down of the Company’s affairs, the realisation and recovery of Company assets and the pursuit of further actions that are not currently available to the JPLs under the powers granted to them within the Court Order. Furthermore, a restructuring of the operations of the Company’s subsidiaries, such as Global Solar Fund, S.C.A, Sicar (“GSF Fund”) can continue under an Official Liquidation."

"New Evidence Buoys Claims Against Suntech"

Last week:

"Chinese solar company Suntech Power Holdings and its former chief executive must face a class action accusing them of lying to investors, a federal judge ruled.

A 'strong inference' can be made that former Suntech CEO Zhengrong Shi knowingly made false public statements about the company's liabilities before a scandal broke that plummeted Suntech's stock prices, the Tuesday ruling states.

New evidence, including emails and internal Suntech documents, support the ruling, U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg said."

Here is the ORDER DENYING MOTION TO DISMISS [pdf].

"Suntech Power Holdings Announces Personnel Changes As Acting CFO Departs" $STPFQ

GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands, Aug. 5, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (OTC: STPFQ) (the "Company" or "Suntech"), through its Joint Provisional Liquidators ("JPLs") announced today that Mr. Deyong He, acting Chief Financial Officer ("CFO") of the Company, on June 25, 2014, submitted a letter of resignation, effective July 1, 2014. Mr. He will maintain his position as a member of the Board of Directors of the Company. With the departure of Mr. He, the Company's global accounting functions will leverage off existing resources, as directed by the JPLs. The JPLs are proposing to restructure the Company's global accounting functions, and manage the functions of the CFO until a candidate is selected to fill the vacancy.

CFO quit over a month ago. Very prompt notice.

REPLY OF THE SOLYNDRA RESIDUAL TRUST IN SUPPORT OF MOTION TO TRANSFER VENUE $STP

Motion from Solyndra in the Suntech bankruptcy case,

"Suntech commenced the Cayman Proceeding and is seeking chapter 15 recognition in New York in order to marginalize its largest creditors, the parties suing it for decimating domestic solar panel manufacturers with its illegal trade practices. It intends to compel litigants to bring their claims in the Cayman Islands where they may not have the safeguards afforded by United States bankruptcy law to ensure fair and equal treatment of disputed claims, such as claims estimation and reserve requirements, and where the right to treble damages under United States law may not be recognized. Suntech clearly perceives that this Court will be more receptive to its request to recognize the Cayman Proceeding and (if recognition is granted) will exercise its discretion over the enforcement of decrees made under Cayman Islands law in a more favorable manner than a court in the district where Solyndra and Suntech America were both based, where the litigation is pending, and where it lost its motion to dismiss Solyndra’s dumping claims."

A correspondent writes, "a zombie cage match, and a wet dream for the lawyers. For the shareholders, not so much."

I like how Solyndra refer to themselves as "largest creditors" of Suntech, as though it is a foregone conclusion that they would win a $500 million verdict.

Suntech Short Interest Down to 2.1 Million Shares $STPFQ

Jun 13, 2014, short interest 2,071,550

Suntech Short Interest Declines Again $STPFQ

Down to 2,647,045 shares short at the end of May.

Example of Suntech Short Coverer

Alpha Vulture:

"I also exited my short in Suntech, and this is something I should have done a few months earlier because at the current low price of the stock the carrying costs of the position are a bit too much (despite the fact that I was synthetically short using a structured product instead of having to borrow shares). The short position returned 56.4% in a bit more than a year time, a result I’m happy with since the leverage of the position was less than one."

This is why the short interest keeps falling.

Suntech Files 6-K With "Updates" On Restructuring $STPFQ

Latest. Some highlights:

• Mr. Kim Liou has provided notice of his resignation as General Counsel with such resignation to be effective May 26, 2014. His resignation is for personal reasons.
• arranged and obtained permission of the Grand Court to obtain a $7 million loan from Suntech America, Inc. (“Suntech America”) to fund the restructuring of the Suntech Group; the JPLs do not anticipate that funding from Suntech America will be sufficient to fund the entire costs of the provisional liquidation and therefore will likely require additional funding in the future to cover provisional liquidation;

Suntech Short Interest Declines Again $STPFQ

Under 3 million shares short now - less than a million dollars of stock.

Who owns this thing??

"Suntech Seeks New Cash After China Bankruptcy, Liquidator Says" $STPFQ

News article.

Suntech plans to seek $100 million to $150 million of working capital from a strategic investor over the next six to nine months, said David Walker, one of the company’s two provisional liquidators. The focus is to develop the retail solar business in the U.S., Japan and Europe after losing its main manufacturing assets in China, he said.

“The feedback from creditors is to pursue a restructuring to extract value from the company” instead of folding up, Walker, who is based in Cayman Islands, said in a phone interview today. “The focus is not necessarily solely on manufacturing. The best margin lies in the retail markets.”

Ridiculous. Name a company in the business of retailing (not installing) another company's solar panels...

STPFQ Down the Memory Hole

On the new Suntech Power website.

Dear Valued Suntech Customer,

With the acquisition of Wuxi Suntech Power Co., Ltd ("Suntech" or "Wuxi Suntech") by Shunfeng Photovoltaic International Limited ("Shunfeng", HKEx Stock Code: 01165) finalized on April 7th, 2014, we Suntech are now ready to regain our position as a global leader in the solar PV market.

Suntech Short Interest Declines Again

Down to 3,192,273 on April 15, a decrease of 474k over ten trading days. That is a healthy share of the average volume, which suggests that short covering is still putting a floor under the share price.

"Suntech Power and Wuxi Suntech Reach Cooperation Agreement" $STPFQ

Press release.

[F]ollowing negotiations by the JPLs with the current management at Wuxi Suntech, Suntech Power has entered into a Cooperation Agreement with Wuxi Suntech which provides a framework for the following (among other things):

    Suntech Power licenses to Wuxi Suntech certain product certificates held by Suntech Power. It is expected, however, that Wuxi Suntech will obtain its own product certificates later in 2014 in due course;
    Suntech Power, including its distribution subsidiaries in the United States and Europe, will act as intermediaries for the sale of products manufactured by Wuxi Suntech, facilitating Wuxi Suntech entering into sales contracts with such customers. For a period of one year, Suntech Power would earn a commission from Wuxi Suntech in connection with any such sale;
    For a period of one year, Suntech Power, including its customer support representatives at its subsidiaries in the United States and Europe, would provide after-sales service for Wuxi Suntech manufactured products which have been sold; and
    Wuxi Suntech would support the restructuring of Suntech Power International, Ltd., the principal operating subsidiary of Suntech Power in Europe which is currently engaged in a restructuring proceeding under Swiss law.

"Suntech Must Face Solyndra Trust Suit Alleging Illegal Cartel" $STPFQ

I don't know why Solyndra is bothering,

A federal judge denied a bid by Suntech Power Holdings Co. and other defendants to dismiss the lawsuit alleging that they drove it out of business. Solyndra LLC’s lawsuit alleges “facts that are more then sufficient to suggest that defendants reached an agreement to fix prices and flood the American market with their below cost Chinese-made panels for the purpose of stifling competition,” U.S. District Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong in Oakland, California, said in a ruling today

A correspondent comments,

"THIS IS THE ULTIMATE ZOMBIE CAGE MATCH...TWO UTTERLY DEAD COMPANIES ARGUING OVER WHO IS GOING TO BE MORE DEAD WHEN IT'S ALL OVER"

Suntech Short Interest Hits New Low $STPFQ

Between March 14 and March 31, 1.1 million shares covered bringing short interest to a new low. It seems like the bid from shorts covering is a large factor in maintaining the current price.

Suntech Short Interest Declines

Suntech Power short interest as of March 14, 2014 had declined to 4.72 million shares.

Short covering is the only thing I can think of that could be holding the share price so far above intrinsic value.

Suntech Bonds Hit New Low of 7 Cents

Small trade, but still.

" Wuxi Suntech Plans to Enter Japan’s Retail Electricity Market"

A correspondent writes in about this Bloomberg article, "Now we know why they wanted the Japanese subsidiary;"

"Suntech Power Japan Corp., a unit of China’s Wuxi Suntech Power Co., plans to expand beyond marketing solar panels to generating electricity for sale to retail customers in Japan."

"Suntech Commences Proceeding in the United States in Support of Restructuring Process" $STPFQ $STP

Chapter 15 was filed just before midnight last night, press release this morning:

GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands, Feb. 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (STPFQ) (the "Company" or "Suntech") today announced that the joint provisional liquidators (the "JPLs") of the Company appointed by the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands to oversee the restructuring of the Company have commenced a Chapter 15 proceeding under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in a federal court in the Southern District of New York. Under such a proceeding, the Company is seeking to have recognized in the United States the Company's overseas provisional liquidation which has previously been granted in the Cayman Islands.

Mr. David Walker, one of the JPLs, said, "The Chapter 15 petition is a very important step to conclude a successful restructuring of the Company as it would allow a centralized process to assert and resolve claims against the Company, and to make distributions to the Company's creditors."

Mr. Walker added, "Chapter 15 recognition will stay actions brought by creditors in the United States, and help ensure that all creditors are treated equally with similarly situated creditors in the Cayman Islands proceeding."

As previously announced, the Company's filing of the Chapter 15 petition by February 21, 2014 was a provision of the Restructuring Support Agreement entered into with (among other parties) the petitioners for an involuntary bankruptcy proceeding filed against it under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.