Tuesday, December 6, 2011

"How Goldman played key role in Solyndra's rise" (GS; SOLY)

SOLY was the proposed ticker symbol in the early offering documents. We've been following this one for a while, links below.
From MarketWatch:
While government officials and venture investors who supported Solyndra LLC are being put through the wringer by House Republicans, a powerful force on Wall Street that brought these players together has largely stayed out of the spotlight. 

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS) , which Solyndra hired in 2008, helped propel the solar panel maker from Silicon Valley start-up to White House showcase. It solicited investors for the company with rosy valuation projections and helped Solyndra win a $535 million Department of Energy loan guarantee. And it positioned itself to earn underwriting fees if the company held an initial public offering. 

The banking giant's name has come up in the course of the Congressional investigation that has followed Solyndra's spectacular downfall, but it's not the focus. Even so, the extent of Goldman's role helps explain how Solyndra catapulted from unknown start-up to secure more than $1 billion in private capital. That private backing was "absolutely" a factor in the government's decision to make Solyndra the first beneficiary of a DOE loan-guarantee program, said department spokesman Damien LaVera....

....By early 2009, Goldman was Solyndra's exclusive financial adviser as it helped the company negotiate terms of its $535 million government loan guarantee. Emails from January 2009 show Goldman dealing directly with the Treasury Department unit that made the loan guaranteed by the Energy Department....MUCH MORE  
HT: ZeroHedge who ends their post:
...As we said before, anywhere you look, Goldman has been there and left its slimy, inky mark.
Which sounds remarkably similar to this bit from June 2009:
Goldman Sachs and Big Time Market Manipulation (GS)
I owe someone a hat-tip for this post and the one immediately below but the tipper's identity escapes me. If it's you, please email and we'll do the right thing. From ZeroHedge:

Goldman Sachs: "Engineering Every Major Market Manipulation Since The Great Depression
With a subtitle like "From tech stocks to high gas prices, Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression - and they're about to do it again" run, don't walk, to your nearest kiosk and buy Matt Taibbi's latest piece in Rolling Stone magazine. One of the best comprehensive profiles of Government Sachs done to date. Speaking of GS, they sure must be busy today, now that Bernanke is about to be impeached and take the fall for all their machinations....MORE

See also:

July 2008 
Solar's Red Hot Real Estate Market
...A solar land rush is rolling across the desert Southwest. Goldman Sachs, utilities PG&E and FPL, Silicon Valley startups, Israeli and German solar firms, Chevron, speculators - all are scrambling to lock up hundreds of thousands of acres of long-worthless land now coveted as sites for solar power plants.  
October 2008 
Was Solyndra the Reason Goldman Sachs Threw First Solar Under the Bus? (FSLR; GS; SPWRA)

June 2009 
Goldman Sachs and the Solar Land Rush (FSLR; GS)




June 2010 
Solar upstart Solyndra mothballs IPO plans (Funny what a 'Going Concern" Letter will Do) GS
Okay kids, we (You, me, the U.S. Govvy) just gave these guys a $535 Mil. loan guarantee.
One of their investors is an outfit called Goldman Sachs which advertises that they bring companies public.
What is going on?...
And many more. Use the 'Search Blog' box if you're interested.