TerraForm Power Inc. agreed to acquire a majority stake in a
portfolio of wind farms in the U.S. and Canada from Invenergy Wind
LLC in transactions valued at a combined $2 billion.
TerraForm, which was formed last year by a spinoff of SunEdison
Inc.'s clean-power assets, expects to acquire net ownership of 460
megawatts of wind power plants. An additional 470 megawatts of wind
power plants will be acquired by a warehouse facility that will be
sponsored by SunEdison and third-party equity investors, with the
assets being dropped down to TerraForm later.
TerraForm shares rose 3.5% to $38.86 in recent after-hours
trading, while SunEdison rose 3.8% to $30.05.
The assets in the deals, expected to close in the fourth
quarter, include seven contracted wind farms and represent roughly
one-tenth of Invenergy's total contracted portfolio. Invenergy will
retain a 9.9% stake in the U.S. assets and will provide certain
operation and maintenance services for those power plants.
Invenergy Chief Financial Officer Jim Murphy stated in a news
release Monday that "market interest in these wind projects was
strong, reflecting the quality of these renewable energy assets,
all of which have long-term power sale contracts."
SunEdison and other renewable-energy developers such as NextEra
Energy Inc. and NRG Energy Inc. have spun off groups of power
plants, solar farms and wind farms into new companies, such as
TerraForm, which sell power to utilities or other companies under
long-term contracts and pay regular dividends to shareholders.
TerraForm also raised its 2016 per-share dividend target by 11%
to $1.70 from its previous guidance for $1.53.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
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