BANGALORE (Reuters) – Solar and LED equipment manufacturer GT Solar International Inc’s string of contract wins and robust share gains this year could attract suitors eager for a foothold in a relatively stable corner of the volatile solar power industry.

Headquartered in Merrimack, New Hampshire, GT Solar makes equipment to manufacture both the cells used to make solar panels and polysilicon wafers, the solar industry’s key raw material. It is the world’s third-largest supplier of photovoltaic solar equipment behind U.S. rival Applied Materials Inc and Germany’s Centrotherm.

BANGALORE, May 10 (Reuters) – Energy Conversion Devices Inc
will lay off 300 people, or a fifth of its workforce,
as it aims to lower costs amid cut-throat competition, and the
solar company said its chief executive had resigned.

The Auburn Hills, Michigan-based company posted its eighth
straight quarterly loss on Tuesday, as total revenue plunged 70
percent due to lower sales in European markets.

BANGALORE, May 3 (Reuters) – Overseas Shipholding Group
, the No. 2 independent tanker group in the world,
posited a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss as a 50 percent
jump in its U.S. business revenue offset a decline in rates paid
to it.

The U.S. segment’s time charter equivalent (TCE) sales rose
to $68.4 million — one third of total revenue — as one shuttle
tanker and two product carriers delivered in 2010 started
multi-year contracts at attractive rates.

BANGALORE, May 2 (Reuters) – JinkoSolar Holding Co’s
first-quarter results beat Wall Street expectations as the
Chinese solar company’s expansion into new markets boosted
sales, but it forecast a cautious second quarter as renewable
energy subsidies continue to fall.

Solar investors have feared that companies like JinkoSolar
and LDK Solar’s exposure to Italy and Germany, the top
markets that are to slash support for solar energy, would hurt
results in the next few quarters.

BANGALORE, April 26 (Reuters) – Companies such as Carpenter
Technology that serve aircraft makers are flying high on
demand for their alloys as more people take to the skies in
emerging Asian markets.

Carpenter, whose alloys were used in aeroplanes made by the
Wright Brothers, posted its first market-topping profit in four
quarters, as sales to the aerospace market, its biggest, rose by
nearly a third to $195.7 million.

BANGALORE, April 21 (Reuters) – A NextEra Energy Inc
unit will sell 100.8 megawatts (MW) of wind energy to Google
Inc’s energy subsidiary, the companies’ second such
agreement that would help the Internet search giant power its
data centers using renewable sources of energy.

As part of plans to reduce its carbon footprint, Google has
been buying renewable electricity to power its data centers. Its
strategy is to select a clean power project that is on the same
grid as one of its centers.

BANGALORE, April 20 (Reuters) – U.S.-based global power
provider AES Corp is to buy rival DPL Inc for
$3.5 billion as it braces for huge environmental and plant
upgrade costs and looks to secure steady returns from regulated
electricity businesses.

Deal activity in the power sector has jumped as companies,
stung by falling electricity prices, face a double whammy of
regulations requiring power grid upgrades and new environmental
controls as well as new-generation power plants.

BANGALORE, April 8 (Reuters) – An investigation to ascertain
if Hercules Offshore Inc bribed officials overseas
could cast a shadow on the shallow-water oil driller’s plan to
buy assets of Seahawk Drilling Inc .

Houston-based Hercules said on Thursday it was being probed
by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for
potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The
Department of Justice (DOJ) was also reviewing certain of the
company’s activities. [ID:nL3E7F73Q3]

BANGALORE, April 7 (Reuters) – Coatings and sealants maker
RPM International surprised Wall Street with a quarterly
profit amid a rebound in consumer spending and an uptick in the
construction market, and said it will raise prices to offset
higher raw material costs.

Shares of RPM rose 7 percent to $26.00, their all-time high.
The stock has outpaced the S&P Specialty Chemicals Sub-Industry
index by 3 percent year to date.

BANGALORE, March 31 (Reuters) – Dry bulk carrier and oil
driller DryShips Inc plans to list the shares of its
rigs division within the second quarter, hoping investors will
cheer the move as oil prices continue to surge.

The Greek company’s shares, which recently completed 6 years
of their Nasdaq listing, were up 3 percent at $5.09 on Thursday.
The stock has fallen 10 percent year to date.