SunEdison Gets All Passive-Aggressive In Discussions With TerraForm Yieldcos

Less than a week after TerraForm Power and Global threw their parent company SunEdison under the bus, it has hit back with a passive aggressive press release that 16-year-olds the world over will be learning from for many years to come.

Late September, SunEdison’s two yieldcos — TerraForm Power and TerraForm Global — published identical press releases outlining their claims against their parent company, and the numerous ways in which SunEdison had mistreated its yieldcos and the billions of dollars they intended claim as a result. The full story can be read here, but in short, together both yieldcos intended to claim over $3 billion dollars due to numerous breaches of trust on SunEdison’s part.

It took nearly a week, but SunEdison has finally responded to the publicly available information with a press release of its own, in which it quite bluntly hits back at its yieldcos. SunEdison described the yieldcos’ claims merely as ‘purported allegations,’ before retaliating in full business passive-aggressive mode:

“While SunEdison disagrees with many of the statements, claims, and allegations made by the Yieldcos in their press releases, SunEdison confirms that settlement discussions with the Yieldcos have commenced, and adds that such settlement discussions relate both to alleged claims asserted by the Yieldcos against SunEdison, as well as meaningful claims that the SunEdison estate is reviewing and may assert against the Yieldcos.”

The passive-aggressive and juvenile nature of SunEdison’s press release seems to belie the seriousness of the situation for the company. Specifically, SunEdison’s assumption that its claims are “meaningful” but that the claims being made by TerraForm Power and Global are inherently “alleged” might sound like conservative business-speak, but to the majority of witnesses just looks childish.

Discussions are ongoing between SunEdison and the yieldcos regarding the sale of interests and other rights, as well as the legitimacy of the yieldcos’ claims. Thankfully, while the company might appear somewhat belligerent in its press release, SunEdison’s Chief Executive Officer, John Dubel, rings a note of common sense in his comments this week:

“Our Chapter 11 process has been long and complex and we are now at a critical stage as it relates to the Yieldcos.  We take to heart Jack Stark’s comments that a settlement of disputes between the Yieldcos and SunEdison is overwhelmingly in the interests of both sides, and we will proceed with our settlement discussions while at the same time moving forward with the sale process.”

In the end, the claims that are being brought against SunEdison are mounting atop one another, making any childish claims to innocence ring somewhat untrue.