Friday, April 22, 2016

"Smart Money? The Big Hedge Funds That Bet on SunEdison" (SUNEQ)

Yes, the stock is trading with the Q appended.
Off 32.49% at 0.2275, down .1095 on 54 million shares so far.

From the Wall Street Journal:
SunEdison, which filed for bankruptcy Thursday, is perhaps the starkest example in recent years of the smart money getting it wrong.

Some of the best-known stock pickers on Wall Street powered the solar company’s swift rise, pouring billions of dollars into its promise of quick growth. At its peak, SunEdison was two-thirds owned by hedge funds.

When a deal-making frenzy and shaky financing markets threatened SunEdison’s business model last summer, they all ran for the exits at once. Shares lost 75% in the third quarter of 2015 and another 25% in the fourth quarter....

... Here’s a list of some of SunEdison’s biggest hedge-fund backers.

Altai Capital: The small activist fund took a stake in SunEdison in 2013 and lobbied for, and eventually got, a board seat. It pushed SunEdison to spin off its semiconductor business and was a backer of the company’s strategy of using publicly traded “yieldcos” to finance its power-plant development. Altai’s director stepped down from SunEdison’s board in January.

Appaloosa Management: David Tepper‘s firm was a major shareholder of one of SunEdison’s yieldcos, TerraForm Power, with a 10.9% stake as of April 1. Appaloosa sued last fall to block SunEdison’s purchase of Vivint Solar The deal has since died, but the fund is pursuing claims that SunEdison hid the extent of its financial woes from investors. TerraForm Power and its sister company, TerraForm Global, didn’t file for bankruptcy, but their shares are down sharply since last summer.

Fir Tree Partners: The hedge-fund firm owned more than 12 million SunEdison shares in early 2015 and sold down in chunks, dumping half in the fourth quarter. It still owned a small stake as of March 31. ​​

Greenlight Capital: David Einhorn‘s fund built a big SunEdison stake in early 2014 and late last year spent $243 million on additional shares and convertibles, working out to about $8.96 apiece, according to filings. The fund appointed a director in January. It sold most of its position last week for about 37 cents a share, filings show....MORE