The revisions to these credit facilities and reasons for the changes are as follows.
The EUR9.5 million secured bank-credit facility intended for the pre-financing of VAT refunds in Germany related to the construction of ARISE’s PV cell manufacturing plant in Bischofswerda, Germany, including production Lines 1 and 2 is reduced to EUR2.0 million. ARISE completed construction of the plant and Line 1 began commercial production in June 2008 with Line 2 expected to do so in the second quarter of 2009 subject to customer demand.
The EUR15.0 million secured bank-credit facility intended for pre-financing of investment grants and allowances in Germany related to construction of the manufacturing plant and production line is reduced to EUR11.5 million.
The EUR10 million secured bank-credit facility intended to provide working capital following the start-up of Line 1 is reduced to EUR7 million.
The EUR9.0 million secured bank-credit facility for the purchase of silicon wafer inventory is reduced to EUR6.0 million and now can be used for working capital purposes.
“The support of Commerzbank has been essential to our success in establishing our PV cell manufacturing operations in Germany,” said Dave Chornaby, ARISE’s chief financial officer. “The credit facilities provided by Commerzbank together with support from the German government enabled us to go from concept to commercial production in less than two years and since then to ramp up our output and establish our second manufacturing line. Now that we have successfully progressed past the start-up stage, it is appropriate to reduce the related credit facilities, as was intended when we negotiated the financing with Commerzbank. We are pleased to be maintaining our strong relationship with Commerzbank as we look forward to expanding our operations in Germany.”
