By Kari Williamson

"Our acquisition of Tenesol is another step toward differentiating ourselves in the competitive solar market, further expanding our downstream presence and benefiting from the strong backing of Total," says Tom Werner, SunPower president and CEO.

"We said on day one that the partnership with Total would provide strength to our balance sheet, access to new markets and investment in research and development. In 6 short months, we have seen these benefits accrue to SunPower."

Concurrently with the closing of the acquisition, Total has agreed to purchase 18.6 million shares of SunPower common stock in a private placement at US$8.80 per share, giving total a 66% stake in SunPower's common shares.

The transaction has been approved by an independent committee of SunPower's board of directors and is expected to close early in 2012 following the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

Total has also agreed to pursue negotiations for several additional agreements with SunPower related to directly investing in SunPower's research and development, developing the first initial, full-scale, commercial concentrator power plant with the SunPower C7 Tracker, and purchasing 10 MW of SunPower products for the development of projects worldwide.