By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent
It appears Suniva may finally be ready to undergo the sale we’ve all been anticipating for more than a year.
SQN Capital Management, the company’s largest creditor and the one who once tried to get a $55 million payment from the Chinese Chamber of Commerce to make the trade case go away last May, announced that the bankruptcy court has finally awarded it full title to “the cutting edge technology, licenses, and manufacturing capacity” of the company. Which, most solar observers assume, means all that will soon be up for sale.
It’s the only logical outcome for Suniva, which last April filed the trade complaint that would shake the industry to its core and end in January with President Donald J. Trump imposing 30% tariffs on all imported solar modules. It is, of course, a bittersweet outcome and one that stands in stark contrast to what happened to its co-complainant, SolarWorld. I
In its own Cinderella story, SolarWorld was recently purchased by SunPower, who has pledged to keep the Oregon factory open, keep the workers employed and perhaps even hire more. The executives are walking away with golden parachutes and a huge payout. It’s a win-win all around.
Not so with Suniva. There’s been no announced plan to reopen any plants or restart manufacturing in either Atlanta or Saginaw, Michigan. Hundreds of people lost their jobs when Suniva shut down virtually overnight last year, and there hasn’t been any plan that indicates they’ll get their jobs back.
As we’ve talked about before, the Suniva part of this power play has always been about getting SQN its money back come hell or high water. It appears the bankruptcy court has just given SQN what it needed to make that happen for themselves. SQN has been hinting for months that it had a couple of interested parties in what’s left of Suniva if only it could get its hands on all the property from the court. Now they have it.
Let the bidding begin.