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Politics : The Solyndra Scandal -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wayners who wrote (209)	10/22/2011 5:59:10 PM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 1400

Solyndra puts off asset auction until Nov. 18 ......................................................................................................... Michael Bathon, Bloomberg News Thursday, October 20, 2011 tulsaworld.com Solyndra, the bankrupt solar-panel maker under investigation related to a $535 million loan guarantee from the U.S. government, delayed an auction for virtually all its assets until Nov. 18. The Fremont company decided to put off its Oct. 27 auction to sell the core business in what is called a turnkey sale, according to a court filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. Potential buyers will now have until Nov. 16 to submit an offer. The company will seek court approval of the sale at a hearing scheduled for Nov. 22. Solyndra persuaded a judge not to appoint a trustee to oust management and take over its bankruptcy case at a hearing on Monday. The U.S. trustee, an arm of the Justice Department that monitors corporate bankruptcies, argued that the company wasn't properly disclosing information it needed about contracts. The solar-panel maker filed for Chapter 11 reorganization on Sept. 6 and was raided two days later by the FBI. Solyndra said it had assets of $859 million and debt of $749 million as of Jan. 1. When the petition was filed, the company said its secured debt was $783.8 million. Solyndra may have as many as 25 potential bidders, its financial adviser, Eric Carlson of Imperial Capital LLC, said at a meeting with bankruptcy monitors Tuesday, according to the Wall Street Journal. Included are about 14 strategic buyers, companies operating within the same industry looking to gain market share or cost savings, while the rest are financial buyers, looking to buy cheap or undervalued assets, the newspaper reported. This article appeared on page D - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle Read more: sfgate.com

To: Wayners who wrote (209)	10/28/2011 3:04:18 PM
From: joseffy	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1400

Energy Department-Backed Company Under SEC Investigation ................................................................................................. by Lachlan Markay October 28, 2011 blog.heritage.org In its push to get electric vehicles on the road, the Obama administration has partnered with a company in dire financial straits that is also under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for insider trading. San Francisco-based green technology company ECOtality received roughly $115 million in two separate Energy Department grants to build 14,000 electric vehicle charging stations in 18 cities. President Obama cited ECOtality in last year’s State of the Union address as a success story of his stimulus law. Ted Karner, president and CEO of ECOtality subsidiary eTec (now called ECOtality North America) watched from the crowd as the First Lady’s guest. Energy Secretary Steven Chu boasted that his department was “working very closely [with eTec] to get EVs on the road.” But the administration’s poster child for its electric vehicle project is riddled with financial and legal problems. According to ECOtality’s 10Q filing from the second quarter of this year, the SEC opened an investigation into allegations of insider trading. On October 28, 2010, we and our ECOtality North America subsidiary, as well as certain individuals, received subpoenas from the SEC, pursuant to a formal Private Order of Investigation, in connection with a fact-finding inquiry as to trading in shares of our common stock from the period between August 1, 2008 and August 31, 2009. The “certain individuals” under investigation are not public record, and the SEC said it could not provide the names of people involved in an ongoing investigation. ECOtality likewise declined to comment. But as the form notes, both ECOtality and its subsidiary – in addition to the unnamed individuals – are targets of the investigation. In addition to its legal troubles, ECOtality’s financial health is tenuous. In the first six months of 2011, the company reported a net loss of more than $12 million, according to its 10Q. More than half of its income during that period came from its Energy Department grants. ECOtality attributes its increasing losses (they increased by about $3 million from the previous year) to “the ramp up of activity and associated costs incurred under the DOE Contract in 2011.” The electric vehicle project for which ECOtality received federal money is behind schedule, according to Karner. As of last month, only about 3,000 electric vehicle charging units had been installed. Karner said the company would be requesting an extension of the program to accommodate the slow pace of production. The extension of the company’s work on the EV project raises concerns about its financial health, given the large costs apparently associated with the project and its lack of other sources of income. The wisdom of large government expenditures on electric vehicles is itself a dubious policy. The economic reality is that PHEVs are not ready for primetime, and the best indicator for when they will be is when the government stops using taxpayer dollars to subsidize their production and consumption.