Bankruptcy Judge Stuart M. Bernstein on Friday pushed back an unusual request by SunEdison Inc., a solar-power giant that landed in bankruptcy a day ago, to launch an independent investigation into its dramatic reversal of fortunes, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. Judge Bernstein said that creditors needed more time to organize before he would consider appointing an independent examiner. The U.S. Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating whether SunEdison management misled the public as the company began to struggle. The examiner request has already drawn fire from bondholders, wary of any efforts by SunEdison to set the scope, cost and duration of the investigation so early in the case. Though the judge shelved SunEdison’s examiner request for now, he approved a number of other requests on Friday aimed at easing the company’s transition into bankruptcy and limiting disruptions while it works out a plan to cut its multibillion debt load. The judge said SunEdison could borrow $90 million under a $300 million bankruptcy loan and signed off on SunEdison’s other requests to ease its transition into bankruptcy while it works out a plan to cut its multibillion debt load.
