Suntech to challenge involuntary bankruptcy petition

Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd said it intended to challenge a petition for involuntary bankruptcy filed against it in the United States by some bondholders.

A group of four bondholders holding about $1.6 million of the company's 3 percent convertible senior notes due 2013 made the filing under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

Suntech defaulted in March on a payment on its $541 million convertible bonds, prompting its main manufacturing unit, Wuxi Suntech, to file for bankruptcy protection in China five days later.

Suntech said it had until November 6 to respond to a filing made in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York.

(Reporting by Swetha Gopinath in Bangalore; Editing by Kirti Pandey)