SunEdison Reaches Legal Settlement on Latin American Power

SunEdison Inc. said Friday that it had resolved a legal dispute in connection with its failed acquisition of a Latin America venture.

SunEdison, its holding company and its Terraform Power Inc. affiliate, have been embroiled in a lawsuit filed by investors in Latin America Power Holding B.V., a developer of alternative power projects in Chile and Peru.

SunEdison had agreed to a $733 million deal for Latin America Power assets last May but failed to wire the funds to go through with the deal, court papers say.

After the deal fell through, Latin America shareholders initiated arbitration and ultimately turned to New York courts, afraid that SunEdison's mounting financial troubles created a risk that it wouldn't be able to cover a potential loss in arbitration.

In February, a New York judge issued a temporary restraining order barring SunEdison from making any unusual moves with its assets pending a showdown with Latin America Power investors.

SunEdison will pay $28.5 million to settle the lawsuit. SunEdison, Terraform Power and its affiliates have not admitted wrongdoing or liability.

SunEdison's shares, which are extremely volatile, have fallen more than 90% in the past 12 months. SunEdison engaged in complex financial engineering to develop its solar power plants, a strategy that helped it grow, but led to problems when the affiliates it spawned to draw in outside investors began to lose favor with the markets and energy prices continued their sustained decline.

SunEdison has been selling assets and cutting jobs amid concerns about a cash crunch. The company on Wednesday suspended payment of quarterly dividends on its Series A perpetual convertible preferred stock.

SunEdison is in the process of buying rooftop-solar company Vivint Solar Inc. but its financial woes have jeopardized the deal.

Write to Austen Hufford at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 04, 2016 08:45 ET (13:45 GMT)

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