Malta-headquartered solar developer and operator GoldenPeaks Poland Holding has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US after a severe liquidity crunch left the company struggling under nearly US$1 billion of debt.
The company and 39 affiliated entities filed voluntary petitions in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas on 29 May. Court filings show GoldenPeaks had less than €1.1 million (US$1.27 million) in available cash against approximately US$952 million in funded debt obligations.
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The filing comes despite GoldenPeaks operating one of Poland’s largest solar portfolios, with 664MW of installed PV capacity and a development pipeline of more than 500MW.
According to court documents, the company’s financial difficulties were driven by a combination of persistent grid curtailments imposed by Poland’s transmission system operator, project delays, rising supply chain costs and the collapse of Spectris Energy, its primary engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) and operations subcontractor.
GoldenPeaks said the failure of Spectris Energy forced the company to separate from the wider GoldenPeaks Capital (GPC) group and establish itself as a standalone business focused on its Polish solar assets.
The company’s business model had previously relied on internal support from the wider GPC group, which provided development, EPC, financing, power sales and operations services. Following Spectris Energy’s collapse, GoldenPeaks was left without an in-house operations and maintenance platform.
Court filings state that the debtor entities own the solar assets but have no direct employees. The company is currently managing its entire 664MW operating portfolio through a single asset management agreement signed just 16 days before the Chapter 11 filing.
GoldenPeaks’ Polish portfolio consists of 548 solar projects spread across approximately 136 special purpose vehicles (SPVs). The operational fleet is organised into nine portfolio groups with 664MWp of installed capacity, while a further five portfolio groups representing more than 500MWp remain under development.
To support operations during the restructuring process, controlling shareholder Brookfield has proposed a US$162.8 million debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing package.
The financing is intended to fund a four-month court-supervised process aimed at either selling the business or implementing a reorganisation plan.
In the bankruptcy petition, GoldenPeaks reported assets of between US$1 billion and US$10 billion and liabilities ranging from US$500 million to US$1 billion.
The Chapter 11 process will allow the company to continue operating its solar portfolio while seeking a longer-term solution for its capital structure and ownership.
Brookfield also recently formed a joint venture (JV) with Japanese financial services company Mitsubishi HC Capital to own and operate renewable generation projects in Europe.
