components for the Andalay Solar Panel sold by Akeena Solar (AKNS). Financial activities Before going public on the NYSE in 2005, Suntech was funded by a consortium of private equity firms, including Actis Capital and Goldman Sachs. The consolidated private equity investment into Suntech is generally considered to be one of China's most profitable private equity investments ever, as each firm is thought to have made gains well over 10x on their original investments. The company's stock performed quite well after its first day of IPO on Dec 14th, 2005. GSF became biggest partner of Suntech and in 2010, almost all the international sales were through GSF. In June 2008, Suntech invested into their biggest partner, Global Solar Fund (GSF), a company investing in power plants in Spain and Italy. In May 2010, Suntech guaranteed a finance arrangement of €554.2 million provided by China Development Bank to companies related to GSF, using €560 million in German government bonds from GSF Capital as collateral. There was no issue related with transparency and GSF was wrongly blamed for failure of Suntech (evident from Earnings call, Chairman comments) However, on 30 July 2012 Suntech revealed that the bonds didn't exist, they were apparently forgeries. In the following week, Suntech shares lost 40% of their value. Decline Suntech announced in 2013 that it will be closing its Goodyear, Arizona, panel manufacturing plant. The reason given for the closure was the hefty tariffs imposed on Chinese solar cells by the United States International Trade Commission. Though the panels were assembled in Arizona, the cells were produced in China. Bankruptcy In 2013 the solar industry faced over capacity. Suntech, defaulted on $541 million of convertible bonds in March 2013. On March 20th, 2013, the main subsidiary of Suntech filed for bankruptcy in Jiangsu, China. In February 2014, Suntech filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy in Manhattan, New York, to seek protection from U.S. creditors. A creditors’ working group led by distressed debt funds Clearwater Capital Partners LLC and Spinnaker Capital Ltd. announced in August a plan to recapitalize the solar maker, the company said in a statement. See also Solar power in China References External links Suntech website Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Photovoltaics manufacturers Manufacturing companies of China Companies based in Wuxi Companies established in 2001 Solar energy in China Chinese brands Companies that have filed for bankruptcy in the People's Republic