Evergreen Solar Files For Bankruptcy, Cuts 65 More Jobs

BOSTON (CBS) - Evergreen Solar has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and will cut its staff by 65, as the company continues to pursue shifting from its solar panel business to becoming a supplier of solar wafers.

The Marlboro-based solar power technologies firm said it plans to sell its assets, but said the assets are expected to be "insufficient to satisfy all its obligations to its creditors."

Evergreen owes $485.6 million to its creditors, and has between 1,000 and 5,000 creditors in total, the company said in its filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

The company's assets, meanwhile, are valued at $424.5 million, the company said.

Evergreen said it does have enough funding in hand to operate in Chapter 11, but plans further cost-cutting measures.

The company, which cut 800 of its 925 Massachusetts jobs as it closed its Devens factory in March, said it will reduce its U.S. and European workforce by about 65.

Evergreen will suspend operations at its filament facility in Midland, Mich., the company said.

In a statement announcing the bankruptcy filing, CEO Michael El-Hillow said Evergreen will continue seeking to reposition itself as a supplier of solar wafers, a building block of solar panels.

"The actions we are taking today enable the continued development of an industry standard wafer using Evergreen's differentiated technology and thereby provide the lowest cost wafer to the growing solar industry," El-Hillow said in the statement.

The company has opted to shift to wafers after finding stiff competition, particularly from Chinese manufacturers, in the production of solar panels.

Lisa van der Pool of the Boston Business Journal reports

Evergreen opened its own factory in Wuhan, China, in 2010.

Evergreen said revenue for the quarter ended April 2 was $35.3 million, down from $89.3 million in the fourth quarter.

Operating loss for the first quarter was $46.2 million, Evergreen reported.

The company has been delayed in filing its second-quarter results due to negotiations with bondholders over debt restructuring, Evergreen said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Monday.