Liam Denning, Columnist

Far Out Energy Finance, Man

Companies are finding it harder to raise cash.

November 19, 2015 at 4:46 PM UTC

Liam Denning is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering energy. A former banker, he edited the Wall Street Journal’s Heard on the Street column and wrote the Financial Times’s Lex column.

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Alternative energy is getting even more so. This isn’t a tale of tree-huggers hooking up batteries to their off-grid, geodesic hideaway in Sonoma, though. Think buttoned-up Wall Street instead.

Alternative financing brings the quirkiness in energy these days. SolarCity on Wednesday said it would raise $113 million from chairman Elon Musk, chief executive Lyndon Rive and private equity firm Silver Lake by selling them zero-coupon convertible notes -- which could be described as "uncommon stock." SolarCity is by no means alone. Rival SunEdison has sold about $2 billion of convertible bonds and preferred stock this year, including a perpetual issue.