Yingli raises $50 million; Tower takes $20 million from Israel Corp.; America West, Maudore settle deals

By Kenneth Lim

Boston, Jan. 7 - Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. said it sold $50 million of 10% convertible notes to help finance an acquisition.

Tower Semiconductor Ltd. took in $20 million from Israel Corp. as part of a deal aimed at strengthening its balance sheet.

America West Resources, Inc. raised $5.16 million through a private placement of stock and warrants priced at a premium to the market.

Maudore Minerals Ltd. completed a C$1 million stock placement to parties familiar with the industry and management.

Yingli raises $50 million

Yingli Green Energy agreed to sell up to $50 million of 10% convertible notes to Trustbridge Partners II, LP to fund its acquisition of Cyber Power Group Ltd.

An initial $20 million tranche will be issued by Jan. 16 in connection with the Cyber Power acquisition.

The notes will have an initial conversation rate of 17,699 ordinary shares per $100,000 in notes, or about $5.65 per share. Yingli common stock (NYSE: YGE) fell 7.37% or $0.50 to close at $6.28 on Wednesday. The company's market capitalization was $797.1 million.

Proceeds will be used to finance the company's acquisition of Cyber Power Group Ltd.

Yingli is a Baoding, China-based photovoltaic product manufacturer.

Trustbridge is an affiliate of Gold Sight International Ltd., which sold its 30% stake in Cyber Power to Grand Avenue Group Ltd. Grand Avenue in turn sold all of Cyber Power to Yingli for $77.6 million in cash. Trustbridge will use the proceeds from the Gold Sight stake sale to purchase an additional $30 million of the convertible notes.

Proceeds from the additional $30 million placement will be used for general corporate purposes.

"We are excited to take this first step in expanding Yingli Green Energy's manufacturing capability to include solar-grade polysilicon," Yingli chief financial officer Zongwei Li said in a press release. "We believe having a fully integrated business model will not only help us secure high quality polysilicon to meet our customers' demands for top quality PV [photovoltaic] products but also help control our silicon costs and improve our margins."

Tower settles Israel investment

Tower Semiconductor settled a $20 million private placement of equity-equivalent capital notes to Israel Corp.

The company sold the notes to Israel based on a $0.26 value per share as part of an agreement from September 2008. Tower common stock (Nasdaq: TSEM) rose 11.86% or $0.023 to close at $0.22 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.58 million.

Israel may invest up to an additional $20 million under the same terms.

The equity equivalent capital notes have no voting rights, no dividend rights, are not tradable, do not carry interest, are not linked to any index and are not redeemable.

Tower Semiconductor is a Migdal Haemek, Israel-based independent specialty foundry that delivers customized services in a variety of advanced CMOS technologies.

The placement was arranged in 2008 as part of an agreement to reduce $250 million of Tower's debt and to strengthen the company's balance sheet.

"We are pleased that Israel Corp. continues to show its support of Tower," Tower chief executive Russell Ellwanger said in a statement. "This additional capital will assist us in continuing our efforts to become the leading specialty foundry in the world and will provide needed flexibility as we continue to leverage the synergies inherent in our merger with Jazz Technologies and streamline our world-wide operations."

America West sells stock at premium

America West Resources sold $5.16 million of common stock through a private placement.

The company sold about 25.79 million common shares at $0.40 apiece and warrants for about 12.89 million shares. Each warrant is exercisable at $0.30 until Dec. 30, 2013.

America West common stock (OTCBB: AWSR) closed unchanged at $0.255 on Wednesday. The company's market capitalization is $32.3 million.

Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, America West is a coal mining company.

Maudore raises flow-through capital

Maudore Minerals raised C$1 million through a non-brokered private stock placement.

The company sold 630,000 flow-through common shares at C$1.60 apiece. Maudore common stock (TSX: MAO) ended flat at $1.65 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of C$26.4 million.

Proceeds will be used to further develop Maudore's Comtois high-grade gold project in Quebec.

Maudore is a mineral exploration company based in Montreal.

The shares were placed with two parties who are familiar with Maudore president Ron Shorr.

"The two participants in this financing are a family headed by a successful mining executive and geologist, as well as a personal friend of over 20 years," Shorr said in a statement. "I'm delighted to welcome them as major Maudore shareholders."

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.