WILMINGTON, Del. — A California solar-panel manufacturer that received a half-billion-dollar loan from the federal government before declaring bankruptcy says it’s been unable to attract much interest from potential buyers to take over its operations.
Instead, Solyndra is looking at a piecemeal sale of its assets, with separate auctions for its machinery and equipment, real estate and intellectual property.
Solyndra officials told a U.S. bankruptcy trustee Tuesday that no qualified bidders have come forward to buy the company and take over its manufacturing operations.
Chief restructuring officer Todd Neilson said Fremont, Calif.-based Solyndra had received only one bid for a sale of the whole company.
“It was extremely low-ball,” he said. “It was mainly designed to take the equipment and the real estate at an extraordinarily low price.”
Neilson said fewer than five potential bidders, mostly from other countries, are still conducting due diligence. But it is “highly unlikely” that a buyer willing to buy Solyndra outright and continue its operations would emerge, he said.
Solyndra representatives blamed the lack of interest on the economy, not on political fallout.
“It’s a difficult economic environment. It’s a difficult industry,” Debra Grassgreen, a Solyndra bankruptcy attorney, said after a creditors meeting Tuesday.
Solyndra, which received a $528 million federal loan and was touted by the Obama administration as a “green jobs” creator, filed for bankruptcy protection in September.
The filing came several months after a February loan restructuring in which about $70 million borrowed from private investors got priority over $385 million in taxpayer money for repayment in the event of a default.
Under the February restructuring, Argonaut Ventures and another private investment firm, Madrone Partners, stand to be repaid before U.S. taxpayers. Argonaut is an investment vehicle of the George Kaiser Family Foundation of Tulsa, Okla. The foundation is headed by Oklahoma billionaire George Kaiser, a major Obama campaign contributor.
