Sunday, November 15, 2015

SunEdison's Big Slide: When Financial Engineering Goes Wrong

A little emphasized $410 million margin loan SunEdison took out with Deutsche Bank in January encapsulates the tenuous financial foundation that stood behind its growth plans.
SunEdison’s margin deal was a piece of the financing package for its $2.4 billion purchase of First Wind, which was very well received by investors. It used TerraForm Power shares — trading above $30 at the time – as a form of collateral but the structure left little room for error. Covenants on the deal forced SunEdison to maintain a loan-to-value of at least 50%, thus when SunEdison and its yieldco shares began falling in late July it prompted large collateral calls that surprised Wall Street and raised questions about management’s transparency.

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