Investing.com -- Shares in SunEdison Inc (NYSE:SUNE) fell as much as 50% in after-hours trading after the Wall Street Journal reported late on Friday that the Missouri-based solar energy company could be on the verge of declaring bankruptcy.
Citing sources close to the company, the newspaper reported that SunEdison is in the process of preparing Chapter 11 filings and has held negotiations with two separate creditors in an attempt to receive financing for the bankruptcy. Reports of the renewable energy company's looming demise have been widely anticipated following a series of missteps in recent weeks.
Shares in SunEdison had already fallen precipitously this year, amid reports of significant debt restructuring, failing transactions and its missed filing deadline from the fourth quarter of Fiscal Year 2015.
Last month, SunEdison disclosed that the company had delayed the filing of its Annual Report on Form 10-K beyond the extended due date of March 15, after its management team identified "material weakness in its internal control over its financial reporting." The guidance stemmed from a deficiency in the company's information technology controls regarding its newly implemented system, SunEdison said in a statement. Then, earlier this week, the Journal reported that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched an investigation into whether the company overstated its liquidity last year when it announced it had approximately $1 billion in cash.
The impending bankruptcy marks a Shakespearean fall for a company which had a market value of about $10 billion last summer and nearly $8 billion as of late September, according to SEC filings.
Shares in SunEdison stood at 0.43, down 0.20 or 47.67% in after-hours trading, after paring some earlier losses. Over the last 52-weeks, shares in the company are down approximately 98%.