As a leader in the market, Sunpower’s Operations and Maintenance will be acquired by the Clairvest and Clairvest Equity Partners VI. When this deal is closed, NovaSource will be the new name, while management and brand recognition will remain supported.
This week Clairvest announced the acquisition of SunPower’s Operations and Maintenance department. After this deal is closed, they will be rebranding this subsidiary by calling it NovaSource. NovaSource will carry on the recognition that SunPower built as a leader in commercial, industrial and utility scale solar projects. NovaSource will also be supporting the current leadership with a management buy-out, leaving the current team as shareholders going forward with the rebranding.
SunPower’s O&M is currently operating in nine countries and focuses on serving commercial and utility portfolios. They manage many of the most high profile solar projects within the United States. In total, they manage 950 sites which adds up to around 3GW of solar capacity. Their services include all types of maintenance, remote operations, asset management and site audits.
“We believe that NovaSource will strengthen its position as the leading global solar O&M provider of scale in the coming years, serving the most sophisticated customers in the world as a preferred provider. We are grateful to have had the opportunity to work with SunPower, who built this great business, and look forward to a continuing relationship with them,†said Ken Rotman, CEO of Clairvest.
This acquisition is part of Clairvest’s ‘buy and build’ strategy, in which they are acquiring market leading solar platforms and rebranding them to build their company. This is their third investment in the solar energy sector, fifty-seventh platform investment and second investment by CEP VI. This acquisition was done with Clairvest Equity Partners VI and together, their co-investment pool is capitalized at $850 million.
Clairvest is a Toronto based private equity management firm investing in mid-market companies mainly located in North America. Their company morals seem to be based in partnership, hoping to see the companies which they invest in succeed. NovaSource seems to be no different based on various quotes; it seems that Clairvest is invested in bettering the company and providing the same quality service to customers. When companies such as NovaSource retain their recognition, it helps Clairvest build their own trust and grow as a company. There has been no announced price for this acquisition, but as a key aspect of SunPower’s company, it will be interesting to see how SunPower uses these funds and rebuilds this department.
