State repaid $3 million after A123 sale

By Erin Ailworth, Globe Staff

With the completion of A123 Systems’ sale to a Chinese auto parts conglomerate, Massachusetts has received a $3 million payment meant to cover part of a loan it had made to the Waltham battery firm, a state official said.

The state gave $5 million to A123 in 2010 to help the company expand its operations for making large, grid-scale batteries, and to create 250 jobs. The loan only needed to be repaid if those objectives weren’t reached.

When A123 filed for bankruptcy in October, it had hit the employment targets necessary for forgiveness of the first half of the loan, but about $2.5 million remained outstanding. With the $3 million payment received by the state, that money has now been repaid with interest, said Krista Selmi, a spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.

Wanxiang America Corp., the North American subsidiary of the Chinese auto parts conglomerate Wanxiang Group, finalized its purchase of nearly all of A123’s assets Tuesday, after receiving word that it had gotten the necessary federal approval to move forward with the deal.