SunPower and Maxeon Solar Technologies today announced that they have completed the strategic transaction announced last November, splitting into two independent public companies. Each of them will now focus on the critical success factors of their respective business models.
“The time has come for this strategic partial spin-off, which will allow SunPower and Maxeon to invest in key programs to ensure their future profitable growth,” said Tom Werner , CEO of SunPower. “Solar energy is promised significant growth and each company is now well positioned to succeed based on its areas of specialization, technological innovation and economies of scale. “
Tom Werner Remains CEO of SunPower, which is headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, and whose employee and economic investment footprint spans the entire United States and Canada . The company also has a network of exclusive resellers in the United States, the largest residential and light commercial franchise in the country. The company ‘s production site in Hillsboro , Oregon will continue to be part of SunPower.
“The new SunPower will further develop as a North American leader in distributed generation (DG) energy and storage services, with an end-to-end software platform, differentiated products and solutions, and a ‘low intensity’ approach. capitalistic, ”Werner added. “And I would also like to thank our majority shareholder Total, strongly committed to low – carbon electricity , for its continued support since 2011.”
Maxeon is a global leader in solar innovation with a strong marketing channel that includes a global network of more than 1,100 authorized sales and installation partners, and a strategy to go beyond the roof to focus on adjacent DG products outside of the United States and Canada . Jeff Waters is the CEO of Maxeon, which is headquartered in Singapore with panel and cell manufacturing plants located in France , Malaysia, Mexico and the Philippines.. Along with this transaction, Tianjin Zhonghuan Semiconductor Co. Ltd., one of the world’s leading silicon wafer suppliers and long-time partner, invested in Maxeon with an equity stake of $ 298 million. TZS ‘investment facilitates expansion of Maxeon’s production capacity for the next generation of the Maxeon product family.
“We are ready to begin our first day as Maxeon, with industry-leading technology, a strong brand, a unique global sales channel and strong investment partners,” said Jeff Waters , CEO of Maxeon. “TZS is a long-time strategic partner of SunPower, which has a proven track record and has cooperated since 2012 on seven joint ventures and joint development projects. We are pleased to have TZS support at this important time in the emergence of solar energy as a mainstream energy source. ”
Maxeon and SunPower cooperate to develop and commercialize next-generation solar panel technologies, with early research being conducted by SunPower’s Silicon Valley-based research and development group, innovation focused on deployment as well as at scale being they provided by Maxeon.
“The creation of two separate public companies, which Total has fully supported as a majority shareholder, is a strategic milestone in the development of SunPower and in our partnership which has lasted for ten years”, declared Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of Total . “I would like to extend my congratulations on the success of this transaction and to express my support to the teams whose remarkable efforts have enabled us to make this transaction a success. This will allow the two companies to take full advantage of their strengths in targeted activities: the marketing of decentralized energy production on the American market on the one hand and the manufacture of solar panels on the other. “
“Next spring, it will be ten years since we started investing in SunPower and since then our partnership has come a long way,” said Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of Total. “Today is an important step in our evolution. We believe the time has come for every business to go it alone, leveraging their own strengths, with focused business plans and defined markets. “
SunPower distributed to its stock holders one Maxeon share for every eight SunPower shares held as of the close of business on August 17, 2020, the date of registration of the partial demerger. Maxeon’s common stock begins trading today on the NASDAQ under the symbol MAXN.
