What is in this article?:
- A123 Systems Inc. said it has agreed to sell its assets to Johnson Controls Inc. (IW 500/33) for $125 million.
- Waltham, Mass.-based A123, which reported a net loss of $258 million for full-year 2011, also said it has secured nearly $73 million in "debtor-in-possession" financing from Johnson Controls to keep its operations going during the sale process.
Republicans Outraged
Even so, Republicans weren't kind to the Obama administration in the wake of A123's bankruptcy filing.
"A123 is yet another example of President Obama gambling with taxpayer dollars and picking winners and losers in the green-energy world," said John Thune, a U.S. senator from South Dakota.
"There were clear warning signs that A123 was having financial problems even as the administration continued pouring millions of taxpayer dollars into this failing company."
Thune promised to "press the Obama administration for answers regarding the millions of taxpayer dollars given to A123."
Likewise, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley from Iowa declared that the Obama administration "needs to answer for this."
Grassley, however, did find a small silver lining.
"If there is something positive to be taken from this, it's that A123 has decided to sell a major part of its business to Johnson Controls, a U.S. company, rather than Chinese-owned Wanxiang," Grassley said in a news release. "That transaction raised concerns about national security because A123 has several Defense Department contracts.
"Sen. Thune and I expressed concern about the potential sale to a Chinese company, most recently last week. But the sale to an American company is small comfort, given the hundreds of millions of dollars wasted on this firm."
