SunEdison stock tumbled by more than 50% today to 21 cents per share following Friday’s report from The Wall Street Journal that it may be planning to file for bankruptcy, but that’s not the only problem the company is facing. Today we’ve learned that one of its yieldcos has filed a lawsuit against it, alleging breach of contract. And don’t forget the reports that the SEC may be investigating SunEdison.
TerraForm Global sues SunEdison
Reuters reports today that TerraForm Global has sued SunEdison, CEO Ahmad Chatila, and other company executives, alleging that the solar power company misappropriated $231 million and breached its fiduciary duty. The media outlet cites court documents for the information. The yieldco said nearly a week ago in a regulatory filing that there was “substantial risk” that its parent company would file for bankruptcy protection.
TerraForm Global accuses SunEdison of diverting $231 million to “prop up its flagging liquidity position” rather than pay for projects in India that were expected to be pushed down to it, according to a Real Money post on The Street. The yieldco said that in October, SunEdison informed it that it needed cash for the short term and asked it to pay for projects in India that were underway. However, TerraForm Global doesn’t think the projects in question were ready to be passed down, so early financing could have put it at risk.
At the time of those statements, SunEdison reportedly made statements in some of its regulatory filings that suggested it had strong liquidity, but then in November, TerraForm Global discovered that SunEdison had a $100 million margin loan coming due after TerraForm Power stock tumbled as it was used as collateral to secure the loan.
Adani Group said to circle SunEdison
Reuters reports (via the Economic Times) that India-based Adani Group is considering buying SunEdison’s Indian assets in the wake of the reports about the probable bankruptcy filing. The solar company owns a number of solar plants in the country and won an auction to sell solar power there at an extremely low tariff. Analysts criticized the win because SunEdison had bid aggressively at a time when it should have been working to bolster its finances.
Reuters cites unnamed sources who said Adani has already informed bankers that it might want to purchase SunEdison’s Indian assets. Other parties that could be interested in those assets include Japan-based Softbank and Taiwan-based Foxconn.