BEIJING - Suntech Power Holdings, the China-based maker of solar panels, declared bankruptcy on Wednesday, the state news agency Xinhua said.

On Monday, Suntech said that it had defaulted on $541 million of its bonds due on Friday, triggering defaults on loans from the International Finance Corporation and Chinese lenders.

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Suntech, one of the world's largest manufacturers of solar panels,had been driven to the financial brink by the obligation to pay the convertible bonds. It stopped releasing financial reports last year after disclosing in July that it had invested in 530 million euros, or $690 million, worth of German bonds that might prove fraudulent.

Suntech said last week that it was closing its factory in Goodyear, Ariz., at the cost of 43 jobs there. The factory put aluminum frames and electrical junction boxes on solar cells imported from China so that the fully assembled solar panels would qualify for "Buy American" incentives.