SunPower to Create Two Independent Publicly Traded Companies
Simpson Thacher is advising the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWR) in connection with its plans to separate into two independent publicly traded companies – SunPower and Maxeon Solar Technologies.
SunPower will continue as the leading North American distributed generation, storage and energy services company and will focus on product innovation, downstream high-efficiency solar systems plus high-growth storage and energy services. The newly formed Maxeon Solar will be the leading global technology innovator, manufacturer and marketer of premium solar panels. The separation is expected to occur through a spin-off of all of the shares of Maxeon Solar held by SunPower to SunPower shareholders. Maxeon Solar will be headquartered in Singapore and its shares are expected to be traded on NASDAQ. Concurrently with the separation, Tianjin Zhonghuan Semiconductor Co., Ltd., a global supplier of silicon wafers, will make an equity investment of $298 million in Maxeon Solar. SunPower expects to complete the separation and TZS investment in the second quarter of 2020, subject to the satisfaction of various closing conditions.
The Simpson Thacher team includes Eric Swedenburg, Lauren Kim and Daniel Han (M&A); Drew Purcell and Abigail Hopper (Tax); Jeannine McSweeney and Eric Wolf (ECEB); Mick Tuesley, Mark Skerry and Claire DiMario (Regulatory); and Marcela Robledo (IP).