Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority votes to buy back $600,000 in bonds defaulted on by Xunlight
7/24/2014The Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority board today voted to buy back $600,000 worth of bonds that were defaulted on by solar cell manufacturer Xunlight Corp.
Board members said the purchase was advisable to protect the bond fund‘s bond “A” rating.
The flexible solar-panel manufacturer that uses technology developed at the University of Toledo and is based on Nebraska Avenue closed its doors June 30, with no promise of reopening.
Port board member John Szuch said the company is out of business and the $600,000 is just to resolve its unpaid loan from the port authority.
The port authority loaned $3 million in 2009 from its Northwest Ohio Bond Fund. The amount of principal still owed is $1,685,000. About $1.3 million is covered by a letter of credit from Huntington Bank, leaving the port authority’s bonds with a shortage of about $400,000, plus some interest and costs.
Port board member Bill Carroll said all domestic solar companies were hurt by an influx of cheaper solar cells from China.
The company was founded by Xunming Deng, a UT professor of physics, and his wife, Liwei Xu, based on technology he developed while at UT.