US based clean energy power plant operators, TerraForm Power, Inc. and TerraForm Global, Inc. announced the resignation of its President and CEO Brian Wuebbels with immediate effect. The announcement that came on March 30, 2016, also informed that Wuebbels will no longer be a part of the company's board of directors.
No reason was offered for the sudden change in the senior management.
On an interim basis, the YieldCos of SunEdison will be led by an office of the chairman, with Peter Blackmore at the helm of affairs. Blackmore is an independent director and chairman of the company. The board has also brought in other independent directors Christopher Compton, Hanif Dahya and Jack Jenkins-Stark to join the office of the chairman.
This development comes in the wake of speculation about a potential filing bankruptcy of SunEdison, which slid into big trouble following its announcement to take over US company Vivint last summer. TerraForm Power, which is controlled by SunEdison, was planned to purchase the Vivint assets but shareholders rejected that deal. In March, Vivint terminated its merger agreement with SunEdison stating latter's failure to meet its obligations. It also announced that it will take the legal route against SunEdison.
Fortune reported that TerraForm Global, another yieldco of SunEdison, had its shares falling more than 20% as both TerraForm Global and TerraForm Power announced delay in filing their annual financial report like their parent company.
On the other hand, Forbes pointed out that Wuebbels resigned due to pressure from David Tepper of Appaloosa Management. Tepper is a shareholder in TerraForm Power and has been quite vocal in his disapproval of SunEdison's plan to acquire Vivint and selling its projects to TerraForm.
According to The Economist, TerraForm shareholders weren't too keen on having SunEdison CFO Wuebbels to lead the yieldcos as that would "further subordinate their boards to the parent company."
In the press release announcing Wuebbels resignation as CEO of TerraForm Power and TerraForm Global, Chairman Blackmore said, "The board strongly believes that the office of the chairman is well-equipped to oversee the operations of TerraForm Power. All of the independent directors of the company will continue to work with me in actively providing direction and oversight to management. In addition, the company's directors are mindful of their fiduciary duties and are committed to acting in the best interests of the company and all of its shareholders."
In another addition to the team, Ilan Daskal of SunEdison has stepped in as member of the board. He had recently been appointed CFO designee and executive VP of SunEdison.
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