Lehman Ponders Wind & Solar Alternatives (LEH)

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LEH) has announced that it is "considering" strategic alternatives for its SkyPower Corp. unit in Canada to augment its growing capital base and accelerate development of its wind and solar pipelines.

SkyPower’s portfolio of wind and solar projects are in various stages of development and construction, but the release said that these combined represent more than 10,000 MW of potential renewable energy.  It also says that SkyPower "intends to strengthen its position as the supplier of choice for large renewable energy projects…. and plans to continue its investment program in order to meet the growing demand of utilities in North America and selected countries across the globe."

Before you get overly excited about "strategic alternatives" pleasekeep in mind that considering options and exploring options are twoentirely different issues in the investment banking world.  It’s nodifferent than sitting in the park think about hating your boss andthen just going home, while "exploring" is you calling a head hunter,sharpening your resume, and gearing up for interviews.

While you got the lecture over "considering versus exploring" the company does note at the end of the release that it "looks forward to the coming months as we explore alternatives with our partners to take the company to the next stage of its growth trajectory."  So for now it is "considering" and it "plans to explore" in the coming months.

Lehman says that this is Canada’s largest renewable energy developer with interests in over 100 wind and solar projects at various stages of construction and development with represents more than 10,000 MW of potential capacity.

The good news is that if it can’t find anyone to run with this, they can probably turn to Jim Cramer to throw together some ideas for them.

Jon C. Ogg
May 29, 2008