Sunrun and Vivint Solar announced the companies have entered into a definitive agreement under which Sunrun will acquire Vivint Solar in an all-stock transaction, pursuant to which each share of Vivint Solar common stock will be exchanged for 0.55 shares of Sunrun common stock, representing a combined enterprise value of $9.2 billion based on the closing price of Sunrun’s shares on July 6, 2020. Vivint Solar stockholders are expected to own approximately 36% and Sunrun stockholders are expected to own approximately 64% of the fully diluted shares of the combined company. The exchange ratio implies a 10% premium for Vivint Solar shares based on closing prices on July 6, 2020, and a 15% premium to the exchange ratio implied by the three month volume weighted average price of Vivint Solar and Sunrun shares.
“Americans want clean and resilient energy. Vivint Solar adds an important and high-quality sales channel that enables our combined company to reach more households and raise awareness about the benefits of home solar and batteries,” said Lynn Jurich, Sunrun’s Chief Executive Officer and co-founder. “This transaction will increase our scale and grow our energy services network to help replace centralized, polluting power plants and accelerate the transition to a 100% clean energy future. We admire Vivint Solar and its employees, and look forward to working together as we integrate the two companies.”
David Bywater, Chief Executive Officer of Vivint Solar, added, “Vivint Solar and Sunrun have long shared a common goal of bringing clean, affordable, resilient energy to homeowners. Joining forces with Sunrun will allow us to reach a broader set of customers and accelerate the pace of clean energy adoption and grid modernization. We believe this transaction will create value for our customers, our shareholders, and our partners.”
Under the terms of the definitive transaction agreement, each share of Vivint Solar common stock issued and outstanding immediately prior to the effective time of the merger will be converted automatically into the right to receive 0.55 shares of Sunrun common stock.
The Board of Directors of Sunrun and Vivint Solar have each unanimously voted in favor of the definitive transaction agreement.
The acquisition of Vivint Solar is expected to be completed during the fourth quarter of 2020, subject to approval by Vivint Solar and Sunrun stockholders, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
Sunrun’s Board of Directors will be expanded by adding two directors, one of which is expected to be Vivint Solar’s CEO, David Bywater.
News item from Sunrun
About 2010, before Vivint filed for bankruptcy, a young man knocked on my door, he was from Vivint and wanted to tell me about how having solar PV could save money on electric bills ‘for decades’. I walked him back to the curb and pointed out my solar PV array and told him that indeed, it saves a lot of money on electric bills. He muttered something like, that’s great and moved on to the house next door.
Just sayin’, if Vivint didn’t fix some of these problems when it emerged from bankruptcy, Sunrun may just find itself in merger quicksand. It would be sad that TESLA takes over the residential sector nationwide, by default.