JPMorgan Sees 'Another Step In The Right Direction' For Sunedison

On Thursday, Sunedison Inc SUNE made the announcement of its plans to sell its Oakfield and Bingham wind farm assets for $209 million. The deal will be to an equity partnership that Sunedison formed with JPMorgan's asset management institutional investor clients. The world's largest renewable energy developer received a Neutral rating by JPMorgan.

Sunedison's shares surged 3.28 percent to trade at $4.09 in Thursday's session with shares volume of 36.41 million.

The company announced that it has sold 333 million worth of wind assets to the newly formed warehouse, Terra Nova Renewable Partners, the strategic equity partnership formed between Sunedison and institutional investors advised by JPMorgan Asset Management – Global Real Assets. The news comes just after the company revised its acquisition agreement with U.S. solar company Vivint Solar Inc VSLR.

Related Link: Bank Of America Still Buying Sunedison

Sunedison's Chief Financial Officer Brian Wuebbels said, "This transaction represents good value for SunEdison's shareholders and enhances our financial strength and flexibility."

"Terra Nova's purchase is representative of the strong demand we've seen for ownership of SunEdison's attractive renewable energy assets," Wuebbels stated.

JPMorgan sees the move as "another step in the right direction" for Sunedison.

Continued Progress Ahead

"These high-quality SunEdison projects with long-term contracted cash flows are the kind of infrastructure assets our investors are interested in holding," said Matt LeBlanc, JPMorgan Asset Management – Global Real Assets' chief investment officer of OECD Infrastructure. "This is a significant transaction and the first since we announced our strategic partnership, and we look forward to completing more in the future," LeBlanc said.

Sunedison exited Q3 2015 with cash and cash equivalents of $2.39 billion as against $1.29 billion in the previous quarter. The company's total debt increased to $9.77 billion from $9.17 billion at the end of second-quarter 2015. During the company's first three quarters of 2015, Sunedison used $1.14 billion of cash for operational activities.