SunPower heads off Trump tariffs with SolarWorld purchase

Solarworld AG

18/04/2018 17:05

By Nichola Groom
    April 18 (Reuters) - SunPower Corp  SPWR.O  on Wednesday
said it would buy U.S. panel maker SolarWorld Americas,
dramatically expanding its domestic manufacturing as it seeks to
stem the impact of Trump administration tariffs on solar
imports.
    Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
    The news sent SunPower's shares up 12 percent on the Nasdaq,
hitting their highest level since before President Donald Trump
imposed 30 percent tariffs on imported solar panels in January.
    SunPower is based in San Jose, California but most of its
manufacturing is in the Philippines and Mexico. The company had
lobbied heavily against the solar trade case brought last year
by U.S. manufacturers, including SolarWorld, which said they
could not compete with a flood of cheap imports.
    Last month, SunPower asked the Trump administration to
exempt a segment of its solar panel imports from new tariffs,
saying that would benefit its plan to expand its U.S. panel
manufacturing.
    The SolarWorld facility in Hillsboro, Oregon, will be
retrofitted to produce SunPower's panels but will continue to
make SolarWorld's legacy products as well.
    SolarWorld, which is a division of Germany's SolarWorld AG
 SWVKk.F , called the outcome "ideal" for its hundreds of
employees in Hillsboro.
    SunPower shares were up 92 cents, or 11 percent, at $9.23 in
mid-day trade on the Nasdaq. The stock hit a high of $9.75
earlier in the session, its highest since late 2017. SunPower is
majority owned by France's Total SA  TOTF.PA .  

 (Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Dan Grebler)
 ((nichola.groom@thomsonreuters.com;))