Suntech Announces Director Resignations and Election of New Chairman

Date Announced: 27 Aug 2013

"Lack of a clear business plan" and "severe cash flow drain" among reasons cited by departing directors.

WUXI, China, Aug. 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (STP) ("Suntech" or the "Company"), one of the world's largest solar companies, today announced that on August 21, 2013, each of Ms. Susan Wang, Mr. Julian Worley, and Mr. Zhizhong Qiu resigned as directors of the Company with immediate effect.

Such directors indicated that they could no longer serve effectively as independent directors for reasons that included not being provided with information that was critical for them to fulfill their responsibilities and the Company's failure to implement some of their proposed actions. The issues of concern cited by the departing directors were the following:

* Severe cash flow drain with unclear prospect of securing new capital;
* Difficult prospects on completing consensual restructuring with convertible bondholders;
* Lack of clear business plan;
* Loss of critical talent and potential severe HR retention issues;
* Failure to pay outside legal counsel;
* Potential erosion of internal controls; and
* Impairment of employees' ability to function effectively.

Mr. Philip Fan, Mr. Michael Nacson, Mr. Kurt Metzger, Mr. Weiping Zhou, Dr. Zhengrong Shi, and Mr. David King continue to serve as directors of the Company.

The remaining three independent directors, Mr. Fan, Mr. Nacson and Mr. Metzger, are of the view that the matters of concern cited by the resigning directors are demonstrative of disharmony and issues of communication between the executive management and the resigning directors that decreased the efficiency of the Board's decision-making process.

The remaining three independent directors believe the large size and geographic dispersion of the Board as previously constituted was not ideal for the Company involved in a debt restructuring process because of the need for frequent in person board meetings to discuss and analyze complex issues.

Furthermore, the remaining three independent directors (i) see progress being made in regard to the issues raised by the resigning directors and (ii) believe the Board is now configured to function more effectively and efficiently with a smaller number of members, including recently appointed directors who have skills and experience relating to complex corporate restructurings.

The remaining directors have elected Mr. Nacson as Chairman of the Board.

The remaining directors have also appointed Mr. Nacson and Mr. Fan as members of each of the Audit Committee, Compensation Committee, and Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee. Mr. Worley and Ms. Wang had previously served as the two members of the Company's Audit Committee. Mr. Worley and Mr. Qiu had previously served as the two members of each of the Company's Compensation Committee and Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee.

Source: Suntech Power Holdings

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