SunPower Inks LOI To Acquire Cobalt Power

(RTTNews) - SunPower Inc. (SPWR), a residential solar services provider, on Friday said it has signed a letter of intent for an all-equity acquisition of Cobalt Power Systems, a California-based solar design and installation company with about $35 million in annual revenue.

SunPower CEO, T.J. Rodgers, said, "Cobalt is famous here for designing and installing solar systems for Silicon Valley moguls, often 100-panel systems (45,000 watts) with as many as 20 batteries." "My personal big win here is to acquire a company that will bring to us technology and technology-savvy customers, the future of solar."

Cobalt CEO, John Paul Bergh, said the company was the first SunPower Elite Dealer in the U.S. Its projects include premium residential installations, educational institutions such as Santa Clara University, where it is working on a 1.4-megawatt project, and commercial sites including the Fortinet building in Sunnyvale.

SunPower said it plans to operate Cobalt as a standalone subsidiary.

Shares of SunPower rose more than 6% on Thursday to close at $1.69.