Big French energy giant Total SA consolidated its solar operations over the holiday by selling its Tenesol SA solar subsidiary to SunPower. At the same time Total boosted its ownership stake in SunPower from 60 percent to about 66 percent by purchasing 18.6 million shares of SunPower stock.

The purchase of Tenesol was made for $165.4 million and the shares were sold to Total at $8.80 per share, a 50 percent premium of SunPower’s closing price on Dec. 22, according to a SunPower press release. That’s equal to $163.7 million, making the two deals an almost even exchange. The deal is still awaiting conditional approval.

Tenesol will allow SunPower access to more markets, according to Total Gas and Power Division President Philippe Boisseau. "Tenesol's well-established channels, manufacturing base and complementary global footprint will help expand SunPower's market reach and accelerate its share gain during market consolidation." Tenesol, in existence since 1983, offers solar designing, engineering, manufacturing, installing and solar system management. It has a deployed more than 500 megawatts of projects. When the purchase is complete, between SunPower and Tenesol, the two companies will have deployed more than 2,500 megawatts of solar power.

“We were seeing at this time that SunPower will be the centerpiece of our solar [strategy],” said Total spokesperson Charles-Etienne Lebatard. “It makes no sense to keep two solar companies within the Total umbrella.”

When Total bought the majority of SunPower in 2011, first announced in April, it also bought out Tenesol from a French energy company, according to Lebatard. “Since the beginning we had a mind to consolidate solar with in SunPower,” he said. “So it has nothing to do with the current situation of the solar market. It was planned.”

Still the deal is more a parallel move than a positive one, according to Jeffries and Co. Inc. Equity Analyst Jessie Pichel. “They didn't expend anything.…They took money from left hand and put in the right,” he said. “It's pretty clear to us that [solar] companies right now should be taken private.…The financial markets are just not working right now and they're not valuing public companies accordingly—at least in solar.”

Under the original agreement with Total, SunPower will retain control of the company. That hasn’t changed with purchase of Tenesol and concurrent buy-in from Total, according to SunPower spokesperson Natalie Wymer.

image courtesy of SunPower