SunEdison's Emerging Market Unit Files for IPO

TerraForm Global Inc, formed by solar company SunEdison Inc to own and operate some of its power plants in emerging markets, filed with U.S. regulators for an initial public offering of its class A common shares.

TerraForm Global will operate as a "yield co", a corporate structure used by renewable energy companies to bundle up power plants and spin them off.

SunEdison is following in the footsteps of NRG Energy Inc , which listed a unit holding some of its wind and natural gas assets in 2013.

TerraForm's IPO comes at a time when solar firms are seeking newer and cheaper ways to finance solar power plants.

This would be the second IPO by a SunEdison "yield co" after TerraForm Power Inc, which owns and operates power plants mainly in the United States. TerraForm Power's IPO raised more than $500 million.

Its shares have risen nearly 18 percent since their debut last July.

TerraForm Global operates solar, wind and hydro-electric projects in countries including China, India, South Africa and Brazil, with a total capacity of 987.8 megawatt.

The company said it expects the projects to generate $164.8 million in cash available for distribution for the year ending Dec. 31, 2016.

Yield cos pay out most of the cash generated as dividends, with the remainder being re-invested in new plants.

The IPO filing did not reveal the number of shares being offered or their expected price and the exchange on which they would be listed.

J.P. Morgan, Barclays (BCS), Citigroup and Morgan Stanley (MS) are underwriting the offering, which had a nominal fundraising target of $700 million.

The amount of money a company says its IPO will raise in its initial filings is used to calculate registration fees. The final size of the IPO could be different.

(Reporting by Amrutha Gayathri in Bengaluru)