London-based Opera Investments plc (which was formed to acquire businesses or or assets in the natural resources sector) has reached a non-binding heads of terms agreement to acquire SoloPower Systems Holdings Inc of Portland, OR, USA for $220m from Hudson Clean Energy Partners (a global private equity firm dedicated to investing in renewable power, alternative fuels, energy efficiency and storage) in a reverse takeover transaction that is expected to be finalized in late third-quarter 2015.
SoloPower designs, manufactures and deploys copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film solar photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules on a flexible substrate using a continuous, roll-to-roll process. The firm targets commercial, industrial and residential rooftop installations through project developers, utilities and/or intermediate distributors. SoloPower claims that its modules can be sold into both established markets (where it achieves lower installation costs by eliminating mounting systems) and new markets (where the lightweight properties allow installation on roofs that cannot otherwise support the weight of a conventional PV system).
The acquisition will involve the issue of new ordinary shares of 0.01pound each in Opera to Hudson at a price of 0.28 pound per Opera share, valuing the existing issued share capital of Opera at 4.8million pound. In addition, on completion of the acquisition, an equity financing aims to raise net proceeds of at least $40m to fund certain future investment and working capital requirements of SoloPower.
"We are delighted to have found such an attractive acquisition target so soon after Opera's formation and listing in April," says Opera's chairman Paul Dudley. "The proposed transaction will give a strong platform from which to grow SoloPower as a pioneer in flexible and lightweight high-performance solar materials and to realise value for its current and future stakeholders," he adds.
