Latham & Watkins Advises Total SE in Connection with SunPower’s Completed Spin-Off Transaction

SunPower, majority owned by Total since 2011, successfully completed the strategic transaction, announced last November, to create two independent public companies: SunPower, the leading North American distributed generation company, and Maxeon Solar Technologies, a leading global manufacturer of premium solar panels. Tianjin Zhonghuan Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (TZS), a long-term partner of SunPower, is taking a minority share of Maxeon Solar Technologies through a US$298 million equity investment. Total fully supports this strategic move which will allow SunPower to focus on developing its positions in the North American distributed generation and storage market. Total remains majority shareholder of SunPower with a shareholding of 51.7%. 

Latham & Watkins LLP represents Total SE, the majority shareholder of SunPower, in the planned spin-off, with a cross-border corporate team led by Houston partner Ryan Maierson, Paris partner Olivier du Mottay, Hong Kong partner David Blumental, and Singapore partner Farhana Sharmeen, with Houston associates Ryan Lynch and Bryan Ryan, Paris associate Noémie Lopes-Lemière, Hong Kong associate Carolyn Wong, and Singapore associates Kelly Teoh and Sarah Soh. Advice was also provided on equity derivative matters by Paris partner Thomas Vogel; on antitrust matters by Paris partner Jacques-Philippe Gunther with associate Juliette Hua; and on intellectual property matters by Singapore associate Esther Franks.