GT Advanced to sell its sapphire furnaces
(Reuters) – GT Advanced Technologies Inc said it is pursuing the sale of its sapphire furnaces and will pay former partner, Apple Inc, a portion of the cash it gets from the sale.
The furnaces were installed to make sapphire glass for Apple, which loaned GT Advanced $439 million for the project.
GT Advanced, which invested heavily into increasing production of sapphire materials for Apple, blamed the supply agreement for forcing it into bankruptcy in October, a move that shocked investors and sent its stock plummeting more than 90 percent to under $1 before Nasdaq suspended the shares.
The company’s attorney Luc Despins had earlier told the court that he anticipated each furnace would fetch at least $500,000.
(Reporting by Anya George Tharakan in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)