Apollo Global Management Inc., Elliott Investment Management LP and other investors in distressed corporate debt were sued by a unit of Deutsche Bank AG for allegedly making false claims about its role in a $725 million loan to SunEdison Inc. before the energy company filed for bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported. Deutsche Bank Securities, which helped arrange the credit facility in 2016 and was sued two years later for allegedly duping the creditors into the loan, said investors that also include Highbridge Capital Management LLC and Cerberus Capital Management LP are falsely claiming they relied on the German company’s analysis of SunEdison before making the loan. In a complaint filed Monday in New York state court in Manhattan, Deutsche Bank said it “did not independently generate or communicate its own analyses and had no role in advising the lenders or otherwise helping them assess their potential investment.” The bank added that the lenders made a “calculated bet” on a company that was under intense financial pressure in January 2016, and it simply “did not pay off,” according to the complaint. SunEdison filed for bankruptcy on April 21, 2016. The lawsuit is the latest legal spat over the loan. A California judge in July 2020 denied Deutsche Bank’s motion to dismiss a suit filed in 2018 by an entity formed to represent the lenders, SESL Recovery LLC. That case is set for trial in July.
