The shares gained as much as 8.8%, or €0.095, in early afternoon Frankfurt trading Wednesday to €1.17 following a China Tech News report that prices for solar modules gained about 10% since the end of 2012.

SolarWorld, based in Bonn, in January said it would approach bondholders to hammer out "drastic" measures and avoid insolvency. The company is hoping lenders will agree to forgive a fraction of their bonds, leading analysts to speculate on a debt-for-equity swap that would dilute the company's equity. SolarWorld's stock is worth about €130 million ($175.5 million).

A successful debt restructuring would make SolarWorld one of the few survivors in a market ravaged by excess capacity and falling prices. The companies and analysts unanimously blame cut-price competition from China. SolarWorld CEO Frank Asbeck last year led a consortium of companies that forced the European Commission to investigate whether Chinese producers were selling products below cost in Europe.

The investigation, launched late last year, is expected to be completed by May or June and Asbeck has said he expects tough penalties for his foreign rivals.

"It remains to be seen if the European Commission actually imposes penalty duties and how high they'll be. But the European solar market is expected to shrink this year, which will likely bring an increase in prices," Independent Research GmbH analyst Sven Diermeier wrote in a recent note.

SolarWorld has €400 million in bonds due in 2016 and an additional €400 million due in 2017, according to Bloomberg News. The biggest holders of SolarWorld bonds are funds managed by Pioneer Global Asset Management SpA. The solar panel maker had net debt of €805.2 million at the end of the third quarter.

SolarWorld's woes have been building over the past year. Last summer the company said lenders offered more favorable terms on €375 million worth of loans amid the rampant bankruptcies in the solar sector. It also paid off another €130 million in liabilities.

Although not a direct SolarWorld rival, sector peer Q-Cells SE last year tried a similar bond restructuring. However, Thalheim, Germany-based Q-Cells eventually had to seek legal protection from creditors after it failed to secure unanimous support among bondholders for a debt-for-equity swap.

South Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group bought Q-Cells in August for about €313 million in cash and assumed debt.