SunEdison May Sell Rest of Stake in SunEdison Semiconductor

Solar developer SunEdison plans to sell more of the stake it holds in SunEdison Semiconductor, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing Monday.

SunEdison – based outside St. Louis in Maryland Heights, Mo. – along with Samsung Fine Chemicals and Samsung Electronics, say they may sell nearly 16 million shares of the O’Fallon, Mo., maker of silicon products for the electronics industry.

That would represent the entire remaining ownership stake the companies hold in SunEdison Semiconductor.

SunEdison Semiconductor said the secondary offering, which would not provide any new capital for the company, could price shares as high as $23.51 and raise almost $375 million for the sellers.

Earlier this year, SunEdison and the Samsung companies sold 17.25 million shares of SunEdison Semiconductor. SunEdison raised $190 million through that sale to help it finance the $2.4 billion acquisition of First Wind.

SunEdison now owns about 26 percent of the semiconductor company, while the Samsung entities collectively hold almost 13 percent.

SunEdison Semiconductor held an initial public offering last summer as it divided from the solar portion of the business. The semiconductor company was known as MEMC Electronic Materials until the company’s solar business began to grow in recent years.

SunEdison shares were up 58 percent from the beginning of the year. On Monday, the shares rose 79 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $30.76.

SunEdison Semiconductor shares were up close to 30 percent this year. On Monday, the shares dropped 71 cents, or 2.9 percent, to $23.47.

This article appeared in print in the June 2nd, 2015 edition of Hamodia.