Yingli backs down in $9.5m unsettled notes case

A subsidiary of embattled solar developer Yingli Green Energy has withdrawn its appeal against a Chinese court ruling that it must repay RMB65.7 million ($9.47m) worth of notes that were due for repayment in 2015 and 2016.

The Baoding Tianwei Yingli New Energy Company Limited subsidiary had been ordered to reimburse the unnamed holder of around 3.7% of the medium term notes it issued in 2010 and 2011, which were due to be honored on October 13, 2015 and May 12, 2016.

The Yingli unit was contesting the decision, but announced today it has withdrawn its appeal, and said it “plans to continue to communicate with the note holder regarding a feasible payment scheme to satisfy the court judgment”.

The decision, which may signal the business unit has succeeded in its attempts to settle with the note holder out of court, means the Yingli subsidiary will also have to pay daily penalty interest of 0.021% of the principal amount – some RMB13,797 per day – which has been piling up since the original court claim was lodged in September last year.

At least the accountants struggling with increasingly drastic looking losses at Yingli will be able to console themselves that if they settle in U.S. dollars, the movement in the exchange rate associated with the strengthening American currency means the amount of interest that has piled up since they lodged their appeal is wiped out by the reduced amount of ‘greenbacks’ they will have to hand over.