Brookfield in Fight Over Solar Firm Where Cash ‘Evaporated’
(Bloomberg) -- Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co. KG and Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. are battling over the future of GoldenPeaks, an energy company staring at collapse after borrowing $1.5 billion for European solar-power projects.
Some GoldenPeaks entities filed for Chapter 11 in the US last month, with Brookfield since agreeing to provide a bankruptcy loan that amounts to more than $250 million, legal filings show. Berenberg has objected to the bankruptcy filing and the new loan, accusing Brookfield of trying to “jump ahead of structurally senior creditors” and “secretly establishing U.S. jurisdiction over these Chapter 11 petitions,” a June 25 court document shows.
GoldenPeaks amassed energy assets in Poland and Hungary in recent years and claimed to be one of the biggest solar-power players in central and eastern Europe. Its rapid descent has rattled the lenders that funded its rise and left them trying to figure out what went wrong.
Some units in the company unraveled “precipitously,” and liquidity “evaporated” within a matter of weeks, Edward Manning, a managing director at Alvarez & Marsal, the company’s financial and restructuring adviser, said in a court filing.
A spokesperson for Hamburg-based Berenberg declined to comment. A spokesperson for Brookfield, based in New York with $1.1 trillion of assets under management, also didn’t comment.
GoldenPeaks was founded by Adriano Agosti and Daniel Tain about 20 years ago. They didn’t immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.
The company borrowed more than $280 million of junior financing for solar projects from Brookfield at holding-company level, while Berenberg provided about $130 million of mezzanine loans to some operating units, according to court documents. That means Berenberg may rank more senior to Brookfield in the capital structure.
Other creditors include BayernLB, one of Germany’s biggest regional lenders, and PKO Bank Polski SA, Poland’s largest bank, they show. GoldenPeaks had also tapped debt markets through the issuance of green bonds.
Spokespeople for BayernLB and PKO declined to comment.
Incomplete Picture
Founded in 2006, Malta-headquartered GoldenPeaks developed a complex corporate structure spanning 368 legal entities and raised at least $1.6 billion of debt, according to court filings. Only 40 of those entities initially filed for Chapter 11 protection, representing about $952 million of funded debt and accrued interest.
GoldenPeaks missed a payroll cycle, prompting employees to leave, and defaulted on nearly all of its more than 20 financing facilities, Manning said.
The company entered Chapter 11 proceedings with only $1.1 million of cash left, he said. At the time of the filing, Alvarez & Marsal said it still lacked a complete picture of what had driven the company’s collapse. Manning cited the lack of proper financial statements, delays in closing monthly accounts and the exodus of key employees, all of which hindered his efforts to assess the group’s position.
Manning also listed restrictions imposed on the amount of electricity the company could sell, construction delays caused in part by unpaid invoices, insufficient equity funding and unsustainably high overhead costs as factors contributing to financial distress.
GoldenPeaks’ collapse also shows growing challenges to Polish solar developers as the country’s total photovoltaic capacity rose to roughly 27 gigawatts amid the fast expansion of household installations. It leads to prolonged periods of negative power prices in the industry during sunny days, making it increasingly difficult for commercial projects to monetize their output.
Sale Process
As part of the restructuring, GoldenPeaks has hired Houlihan Lokey Inc. to market the business as a going-concern. The investment bank launched the sale process on June 19, contacting 87 prospective strategic and financial buyers. Six parties have so far expressed interest in gaining access to the data room, according to a court filing dated June 24.
Brookfield has also expressed interest to bid for the assets through its credit position, according to the filing. The firm already has a 45 gigawatt renewable power business.
The case is GoldenPeaks Poland Holding Limited, 26-90564, US Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Texas (Houston).
(Updates with organizational chart.)
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