Sunday, November 10, 2013

Suntech $STP Will Trade As $STPFQ

These are the OTC security additions announced Friday, effective Monday.

Suntech will no longer trade on the "august" New York Stock Exchange. It will trade as "STPFQ".

By the way, Suntech said in its motion to dismiss the Chapter 7 case that "Most pointedly, even an orderly liquidation of Suntech, given the structural priority of the substantial indebtedness of Suntech’s subsidiaries, will produce little or no return for the Noteholders and IFC."

Wow!!  Why isn't present management being relieved of control if even the most senior holding company security is a donut? And why are creditors putting up with this?

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why the "F", I wonder??

Anonymous said...

C.P.,

The appointed Provisional Liquidator displaces the authority of the Board of Directors and controls the affairs of Suntech Power Co, Ltd, under the supervision of the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands.

Managers and Directors are required to help the Provisional Liquidator preserve and protect assets until there is a Hearing of the Winding Up Petition.

Should 75% of Creditors and Shareholders fail to reach a Plan or Scheme of Arrangements before the Hearing, an Official Liquidator will be appointed to dissolve Suntech immediately.

Anonymous said...

Has the Hearing of the Winding-Up Petition already been scheduled? (I assume the proposed petition has already been presented if provisional liquidators have been appointed). If not, what might an approximate timeline be?

Anonymous said...

ROPOSED RESTRUTURING OF SUNTECH

73 Assuming that Wuxi Suntech's assets are sold to Jiangsu Shunfeng pursuant to the current bid, the key remaining assets of the Group would comprise:

73.1 The European sales and distribution business;

73.2 The US sales and distribution business which also covers Latin America and the Caribbean: and

73.3 The GSF Fund

Anonymous said...

Curious of them to claim the US business as an asset when corporate headquarters have been all but abandoned--should be rather easy to demonstrate in court, no?

Is anyone picking up the phone in Europe?

Anonymous said...

That's true, but Suntech probably does have sales contracts (and other assets) in the Americas, Europe, and elsewhere.

Either way, note holders can expect little or none return and the equity is worth micro pennies at best.

Suntech will likely file a Chapter 15 petition in CA, following the Chapter 7 hearing in NY on 12/12.

The Cayman process is a bit more complicated.

Any creditor, shareholder, employee, etc can file claims, motions, petitions in Cayman, so a timeline is difficult to determine but Suntech is on track to getting liquidated there.

Anonymous said...

Re Anonymous @ 8:37pm, how does one find out the US court dates?

Anonymous said...

US court schedules are managed by clerks.

The best way for you to find out deadlines, hearings, etc is to check the latest court filings.

Many courts have their own systems (such as PACER in NY), but the documents can also be found elsewhere, for example: http://www.scribd.com/walt373/documents

Anonymous said...

Per the Reuters story today, the existing STP equity will be crushed: '"It would be diluted to close to nothing," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.' Why is the conversation about dilution instead of outright cancellation? Why do they keep emphasizing this when it doesn't appear that it's in any serious stakeholder's (creditor's) interest?

Anonymous said...

Now that the Sunfeng deal was voted in China, would this go against the Cayman liquidator's obligation to try to preserve STP assets?

Still, it would take until after the Shunfeng shareholder vote, post 2/20/14 before Suntech gets any money from Shunfeng, right?

What is the potential timeline for the bonds & other debt to equity conversion?

The Guolian cash investment for majority stake would also be after both the converions of debt-equity, & the Shunfeng deal being finalized right?
... mindboggling why STPFQ still trades >$0.50/share, given today already 2 sources quoted by Reuters as saying current equity "would be diluted to close to nothing"...http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/12/suntech-shunfeng-creditors-idUSL4N0IX2ZH20131112

Anonymous said...

* What can the liquidator do? Liquidation was probably delayed until after the approval of the sale. What better way to ensure looting of the holdco could be safely completed?
* STP gets no money from Shunfeng--Wuxi does.
* All this has been apparent for some time and the stock was trading at $1.90 in the last month. I don't see why this should suddenly start to figure into the calculus of the marginal buyer.

Anonymous said...

It now becomes a tug of war between STP Holding's minority and majority bondholders.

Minority bondholders are long-shorts who benefit from a liquidation.

Majority are distressed investors who want to take large equity stake following a reorganization.

It seems like both sides would benefit if STPFQ went into Chapter 15 in USA, wiped out the equity, and announced an expedited restructuring plan with Wuxi Guolien.

Neither side benefits by prolonging a reorganization (since the longer it takes, the less STPFQ assets will be worth) and both sides loose by letting lawyers bill them for even more hours -- the majority bondholders have paid legal expenses of at least $2.7million already (according to http://www.sinocast.com/article.do?articleId=522 ).

Anonymous said...

I completely agree. Why not get it over with, & let current equity get wiped, Convert bonds to equity; & then let Guolian come in and dilute them into a minority stake (of GSF's questionable assets, SPI, and the US offices)?

Walter said...

Don't they need to get the involuntary bankruptcy petition dismissed before they can go through with a restructuring?

Anonymous said...

There has not been a ruling in the Chpt 7 case yet, so the holding company can enter into agreements now for a future swap, equity infusion, bank debt extension, etc.

The holding company had guaranteed subsidiary debt, so one lingering question is: what will Chinese banks do with their outstanding debt claims?

If I were Spinnaker or Clearwater, I'd be pushing to reach a scheme of arrangements as quickly as possible.

Without Chpt 15 protection, a Chpt 7 ruling would open the door for minority bondholders with judgement rulings to freeze and seize Suntech financial assets.

Without financial assets, the company will not be able to carry out a restructuring and bondholders will rush to get relief.

Anonymous said...

The holding company's downstream debt guarantees can be found here (as well as in past annual reports): http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1342803/000110465912077662/g268371mmi024.gif

The Reuters article today alluded that Wuxi Guolian wants "a swap of unspecified amounts of Suntech Power Holdings' debts - which totaled $2.4 billion - into equity."

The $550m + 50m notes are only 25% of the $2.4b debt.

Anonymous said...

Suntech Application for Provisional Liquidation Approved

http://www.menafn.com/7349939d-c512-413e-9d7d-eb9d13e6565d/Suntech-Application-for-Provisional-Liquidation-Approved?src=main

However, some experts pointed that U.S. Federal Court also has a legal jurisdiction right over Suntech Power, and as long as the court did not dismiss convertible bonds holders' requirement of mandatory bankruptcy, Suntech Power will still face the risk of delisting.

Source: www.nbd.com.cn (November 12, 2013)

Opium War said...

The chapter 7 petition is not going to be dismissed. It meets all of the requirements for relief to be granted.

No exchange offer will ever take place.

The real question is what kind of recovery the chapter 7 trustee will be able to achieve for the convert holders.

Anonymous said...

I concur, it is wishful thinking to believe the chapter 7 case will be dismissed.

The judge will simply ask why the company has yet to declare bankruptcy in the US given that it is unable to pay judgement rulings.

STP will surely wind up bankrupt, either in chapter 7 or in chapter 15 in the next few weeks.

Opium War said...

Chapter 15 is not available in this situation because Suntech does not do any business in Cayman.

If Suntech can't dismiss the chapter 7 (and how could it?), the only other choice would be to convert to a chapter 11.

Anonymous said...

They may file a chapter 15 petition to stay the chapter 7 proceedings.

It is a tactic to delay and buy a few more months of time.

Either way, the equity would get wiped out if stp filed for bankruptcy.