Solar wafer maker Green Energy Technology Inc (綠能科技) yesterday said its board of directors had approved a proposal to dissolve the company, after its turnaround efforts failed.
The move came after checks from the debt-ridden firm bounced earlier this month.
Tatung Co (大同) chairwoman Lin Kuo Wen-yen (林郭文艷) last week refused to take on the position of Green Energy board director after she was elected on June 27.
The move suggests that Tatung, Green Energy’s parent company, has no intention of helping the unit. Tatung is the firm’s biggest shareholder with a stake of 28 percent.
Green Energy is to hold an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting in Taoyuan on Aug. 30 to approve a plan to disband the company, it said in a statement submitted to the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) yesterday.
The firm has been unable to generate a positive cash flow as polysilicon wafers are selling at less than they cost to manufacture, the company said.
The plan will affect 68,128 shareholders.
Green Energy plans to lay off 284 employees to save on labor and operating costs, it said in a separate statement.
The company had 339 employees as of March 31.
Green Energy attributed the company’s demise to the unfavorable economic environment, including trade barriers set up by the US, China and India.
The solar wafer maker saw losses increase to NT$7.09 billion (US$228.33 million) last year from NT$619.14 million in 2017, its annual report showed.
Gross margin deteriorated to minus-40.26 percent last year from minus-0.31 percent in 2017.
The company has accumulated losses totaling NT$20.56 billion in the past 11 years, driving its net value down to minus-NT$5.53 per share at the end of last year.
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