Evergreen Solar Inc., which filed for bankruptcy in August, has sold off its core wafer business, including its intellectual property, for about $10.7 million, along with assumed liabilities and other costs.
Hong Kong-based Max Era Properties bought the assets for $6 million in cash and 7.57 million shares of its holding company, China Private Equity Investment Holdings Ltd., which trades on London's alternative market.
The shares are valued at $4.7 million as of November 25, based on Max Era's share price of $0.62.
Massachusetts-based Evergreen was an early pioneer of low-priced solar manufacturing - its proprietary "string ribbon" technology reduced the use of polysilicon to make solar panels.
The company has been experiencing a long downward slide from its 2007 high water mark, when its shares sold for $113 on Nasdaq.
Since then, the solar industry has changed dramatically. When Evergreen went public, there were only a handful of quoted solar companies.
Since the emergence of much lower cost Chinese solar panels, Evergreen could no longer keep up.
In court records, Evergreen indicated its assets were worth $424.5 million and had debts of $485.6 million.
