First Solar Signs Definitive Agreement to Sell North American O&M Business to NovaSource

TEMPE, Ariz., Aug. 06, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR) today announced that it has entered into a Membership Interest Purchase Agreement (the “Agreement”) with NovaSource Power Services (“NovaSource”), a portfolio company of Toronto-based private equity firm Clairvest Group Inc. (TSX: CVG) (“Clairvest"), pursuant to which NovaSource will acquire First Solar’s North American Operations and Maintenance (O&M) business.

Upon closing of the transaction, approximately 220 First Solar O&M associates are expected to be transferred with the acquired business.  Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Clairvest supported a management buy-out of SunPower Corporation’s O&M business in May of this year, which was subsequently renamed NovaSource. NovaSource oversees some of the most high profile solar projects in the United States and operates in nine countries today.

The completion of the transaction is subject to a number of closing conditions, including the receipt of third-party consents, the expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 and review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

Additionally, the transaction is subject to certain other customary closing conditions.  Assuming satisfaction of the closing conditions, the transaction is anticipated to close in the last quarter of 2020.