Solarworld bondholders lack quorum to adopt decision on debt restructuring

Jul 10, 2013 - Troubled German solar company Solarworld AG (ETR:SWV) said today its bondholders meetings in the past two days failed to pass a resolution on the restructuring plans for two bonds of a combined EUR 500 million (USD 641m) because of lack of quorum.

The German law prescribes a representation rate of at least 50% so that a decision on a bond is legitimate.

The management plans to offer the bondholders to convert the bonds into purchase rights for new stock and bonds, which will cut their claims to 55 % of the amount, the company said in an invitation for a shareholders meeting on August 7, 2013.

Solarworld expects to get the noteholders' approval at two subsequent meetings on August 5 and 6. "Our proposed plan will allow the noteholders to recover considerably more than they would in the case of SolarWorld AG's failure," CEO Frank Asbeck was quoted as saying in the statement published today.

The company's creditors, however, gathered enough votes to appoint law firms to represent them in the restructuring process. Guenther & Partner was appointed for the holders of a seven-year EUR 400 million bond that matures in 2017, Solarworld said yesterday. The previous day Alexander Elsmann was entrusted to guard the rights of the creditors whose EUR 150 million bond must be repaid in 2016.

(EUR 1 = USD 1.282)

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