Suntech Power Holdings Co., the Chinese solar-panel maker that announced a forbearance agreement for $541 million in convertible debt due tomorrow, fell to a record low after Maxim Group LLP said the company is "likely" to default and enter bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Suntech tumbled 22 percent to 65 cents at the close in New York, the lowest since it began trading in December 2005. The bonds increased to 32 cents on the dollar. The company said in a statement on March 11 that about 60 percent of the bondholders had agreed to wait until May 15 before exercising their rights. A default would be the first for a bond issued by a company in mainland China. Suntech, the largest solar panel maker in 2011, has reported losses for the past two years and had about $2 billion of debt as of the end of August, according to a bondholder presentation in November filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
