Brookfield to take control of SunEdison units for $1.41 bln (updated)

AlTi Global

07/03/2017 20:44

(Adds details from Bankruptcy Court hearing) 
    By John Benny 
    March 7 (Reuters) - Brookfield Asset Management Inc  BAM.N  
 BAMa.TO  said on Tuesday it would buy one of the two "yieldcos" 
of bankrupt U.S. solar company SunEdison Inc  SUNEQ.PK  and take 
a 51 percent stake in the other, for a total of about $1.41 
billion. 
    Canada's largest alternative-asset manager is increasing its 
holding in TerraForm Power after first reporting a stake in 
June, when it called the SunEdison unit an "attractive 
investment opportunity". 
    Yieldcos are publicly traded units that hold renewable 
energy assets such as solar power plants and wind farms, 
including those bought from the sponsor or the parent company. 
    They have long-term agreements to sell power, giving them 
stable cash flows, but they are dependent on the transfer of 
assets from their parents to increase dividends. 
    Brookfield will acquire TerraForm Global Inc  GLBL.O  for 
about $787 million and increase its stake to 51 percent of 
TerraForm Power Inc  TERP.O  for $622 million. 
    Brookfield will also assume about $455 million of TerraForm 
Global's debt and pay $5.10 per TerraForm Global class A share, 
which represents a 20 percent premium to the stock's Monday 
closing price. 
    TerraForm Global owns or has contracts to acquire 952 
megawatts of wind and solar power in Brazil, India, China, South 
Africa, Thailand, Malaysia and Uruguay. 
    TerraForm Power class A shareholders will get $11.46 per 
share in cash, below the stock's Monday close of $11.59. 
    TerraForm Power owns about 2,967 megawatts of solar and wind 
assets in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and 
Chile. 
    Brookfield, which owns over 17,000 megawatts of renewable 
energy assets, will replace SunEdison as TerraForm Power's 
sponsor once the deal closes. It had a 12.16 percent stake in 
TerraForm Power as of Feb. 17, according to Thomson Reuters 
data. 
    As part of the deal, TerraForm Power will issue about 6.6 
million shares to SunEdison, which will leave SunEdison with a 
higher stake in the unit of 36.9 percent. 
    SunEdison will exchange its class B shares in TerraForm 
Global for 25 percent of TerraForm Global's class A shares. 
    SunEdison, once the fastest-growing U.S. renewable energy 
company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year 
after a short-lived but aggressive binge of debt-fueled 
acquisitions proved unsustainable.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N17B0J1 
    Separately on Tuesday, SunEdison won U.S. Bankruptcy Court 
approval for more time to file a plan for emerging from 
bankruptcy, beating back an objection to an extension by its 
unsecured creditors committee. 
    Chief Executive John Dubel, also SunEdison's chief 
restructuring officer, told the court the company would try to 
have a plan by March 29 and that it would share details of the 
plan with the committee within a week or two. 
    In court papers last month, the unsecured creditors 
committee charged SunEdison had left it "out in the cold" and 
had only been working with its secured creditors on a Chapter 11 
plan. 
    Morgan Stanley, Centerview Partners and AlixPartners were  
financial advisers to TerraForm Power, while Greentech Capital 
Advisors, Centerview Partners, and AlixPartners advised 
TerraForm Global. 
    Rothschild and Ankura Consulting acted as financial advisers 
to SunEdison. 
 
 (Reporting by John Benny in Bengaluru; additional reporting by 
Jim Christie in San Francisco.; Editing by Sai Sachin Ravikumar 
and Frances Kerry) 
 ((John.Benny@thomsonreuters.com ; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780; 
outside U.S. +91 80 6749 6718; Reuters Messaging: 
John.Benny.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: TERRA GLOB BROOKFIELD ASSET/