SunEdison $144 Million Sale of Assets to NRG Renew Approved

(Bloomberg) -- SunEdison Inc., the bankrupt renewable energy giant, won court approval of a $144 million sale of wind and solar assets to a unit of NRG Energy Inc.

The company will sell equity interests in some North American utility project companies after an auction in which NRG Renew LLC’s opening offer prevailed. 

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stuart Bernstein said the deal was “fair and reasonable” given the extensive marketing of the asset package, as he signed off on the sale Thursday in Manhattan federal court.

The court delayed consideration of a private sale of a stake in SUNE Troughton Farm Solar Ltd. in England and Wales, to Stark Solar Ltd. so SunEdison Chief Executive Officer John S. Dubel could answer questions. That’s scheduled for Friday morning. A request in August to sell the assets said Stark would pay a negligible amount but help get the project access to financing.

Bidding procedures for the company’s solar materials business were also approved.

SunEdison filed for bankruptcy in April after a two-year acquisition binge. Since then, it has been marketing its assets individually and in bundles, but has yet to announce whether it will reorganize or wind down. Around 100 non-binding bids have been fielded, and SunEdison expects proceeds of $1.25 billion to $1.7 billion, according to a Sept. 7 regulatory filing.

The case is SunEdison Inc., 16-10992, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

To contact the reporters on this story: Tiffany Kary in New York at tkary@bloomberg.net, Brian Eckhouse in in Manhattan federal court at beckhouse@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrew Dunn at adunn8@bloomberg.net, Kenneth Pringle