Sunedison Up 13% On Apparently 'Fake' Takeover PR

Shares of Sunedison Inc (NYSE: SUNE) were trading higher by more than 13 percent following a suspicious release by BriefingWire, which discussed potential M&A activity.

The story appeared on Briefing Wire and was attributed to Madalina Iacob, a senior reporter for Debtwire. The release was confirmed to be fake in a Twitter post by Andrew Ragsly, managing editor of Debtwire North America. The Tweet was also retweeted by Madalina Iacob.

No, @Debtwire didn't write that fake $SUNE buyout story involving "Rockefeller Brothers Fund"

— Andrew Ragsly (@AndrewRagsly) March 28, 2016

The Briefing Wire release was riddled with grammatical errors.

Related Link: Recovery Or Bankruptcy: Where Will Sunedison Be A Year From Now?

The release suggested that Sunedison is being eyed as an acquisition target by Rockefeller Brothers Fund. It added that while the rumor is unconfirmed, it's "not entirely without merit." The release said the Rockefeller Brothers are "immediately divesting from coal and tar sand" and looking to re-invest in renewable energy assets.

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund is a "private, family foundation helping to advance social change that contributes to a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world," according to its website.

UPDATE: A spokesperson for the fund told Benzinga in an email there is "no truth" to this report.

In its recap of this news, Fortune noted that "SunEdison also revealed Monday that it would temporarily suspend stock contributions to the retirement savings plans of it's directors and executives, which will last until the company is up to date with its Security and Exchange filings, according to a regulatory filing Thursday."