France’s Total moved a step closer to completing a $1.3 billion takeover bid for SunPower Corp after a majority of shareholders of the U.S. solar panel maker’s capital agreed to tender their shares.
In a joint statement on Wednesday the companies announced the success of Total’s all-cash tender on SunPower after 52.2 percent of Class A common stock shareholders and 74.2 percent of Class B common stock shareholders tendered their shares.
Total unveiled a friendly bid in April, offering to pay $23.25 a share for up to 60 percent of SunPower, in one of the biggest moves ever by an oil and gas giant into the renewable energy industry.
The price represented a premium of more than 44 percent to SunPower’s Class A closing share price of $16.12 on the day before the deal was announced.
Solar power has been one of the fastest growing energy industries in recent years, but still remains tiny compared with oil, gas and coal because of its higher cost.
