Yingli cannot forecast when RMB 74.4 million lawsuit will be resolved

By Devika Patel

Knoxville, Tenn., Sept. 19 – Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. management said it is “too early to predict” when its noteholder’s lawsuit regarding Baoding Tianwei Yingli New Energy Co. Ltd.’s medium-term notes will be resolved.

The noteholder seeks to recover RMB 74.4 million due to non-payment of principal and interest.

“Currently, we have two tranches of medium-term notes with a principal totaling of RMB 1,757,000,000,” chief financial officer Yiyu Wang said on the company’s second quarter earnings conference call on Tuesday.

“As previously announced by the company, one of the noteholders has filed a lawsuit against Tianwei Yingli in a PRC [People’s Republic of China] court to recover the amount due under such medium-term notes.

“Tianwei Yingli plans to vigorously defend its rights in the court while continuing to seeking a mutual beneficial solution out of the court.

“It’s too early to predict when it will be solved.

“The company is not aware of any other legal proceedings initiated by the noteholders for both of the medium-term notes against the company,” Wang said.

As previously reported on Sept. 1, Yingli announced that one of the holders of the medium-term notes due May 12, 2016 and medium-term notes due Oct. 13, 2015 issued by subsidiary Baoding Tianwei Yingli New Energy Co. Ltd. filed a lawsuit against Tianwei Yingli in a People’s Republic of China court to recover the amount due under the notes.

According to a Yingli news release at the time, the principal amount of the medium-term notes held by the lawsuit plaintiff is alleged to be RMB 65.7 million, representing 3.7% of the total amount of the 2011 and 2010 notes that are still outstanding.

The company said the noteholder claimed that Tianwei Yingli should repay principal, interest and overdue penalty on the notes for a total amount of RMB 74.4 million and bear costs related to the lawsuit.

Yingli said it tried to resolve the dispute with the noteholder out of court, and Tianwei Yingli plans to vigorously defend its rights in court while continuing to seek a mutually beneficial solution out of court.

Considering the amount claimed by the noteholder, the company said it does not expect this lawsuit to have any direct material impact on its overall operation.

The company said it notified all holders of the medium-term notes of this lawsuit and it expects to hold meetings with them soon to discuss Yingli’s debt restructuring, strategic alternatives and financing plans.

EBITDA for the second quarter was negative RMB 27.4 million, or $4 million, compared to RMB 100.9 million in the first quarter and RMB 469.5 million in the second quarter of 2016.

As of June 30, the company had RMB 658.2 million, or $97.1 million, in cash and cash equivalents, increased from RMB 417.3 million, or $60.6 million, as of March 31.

Yingli Green Energy is a Baoding, China, maker of solar panels.

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