Milbank Represents SunPower Corp. in $100 Million Financing of Solar Power Collaboration with Wells Fargo
LOS ANGELES, July 6, 2009 – The international law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, LLP represented SunPower Corp., a pioneer in the use of solar power purchase agreements, in a partnership with Wells Fargo to fund up to $100 million in SunPower commercial-scale solar systems. The program will allow SunPower to enter into power purchase agreements with qualified customers, while Wells Fargo will finance the solar power systems to be designed, built, operated and maintained by SunPower. Participating customers will buy the electricity from SunPower at competitive rates, which will provide for a sound investment strategy and the opportunity to take advantage of the environmental and financial benefits of solar power.
“SunPower continues to be at the forefront of the solar industry and has created a winning financial solution for its customers,” said Edwin F. Feo, co-chair of Milbank’s Power, Energy & Utilities practice. The Milbank team included partners Simon Friedman and Mark Regante, senior counsel Michael Dayen, and associate Josh Ludmir.
The initial projects, expected to be completed by the end of 2009, will include a 1.1-megawatt system for the University of California, Merced, and a 1-megawatt system for the Western Riverside County Regional Wastewater Authority. Both will be ground-mounted systems using the patented SunPower® T20 Tracker technology, which follows the sun throughout the day and delivers up to 30 percent more energy than fixed-tilt ground systems. SunPower has more than 500 large public and commercial solar power systems installed or under contract, representing more than 400 megawatts.
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP is a preeminent global law firm that for more than 140 years has provided innovative legal solutions to many of the world’s largest, most complex, “first-ever” corporate transactions and litigation. The firm’s transactional expertise includes capital markets, corporate finance and transactions, project finance, acquisition finance, and other major fields of law practice. Milbank litigation teams resolve disputes involving mergers and acquisitions, proxy battles, financings and securities offerings, intellectual property, white-collar crime, and corporate restructurings, among others. The firm’s clients range from prominent multinational financial, industrial and commercial enterprises to governments, institutions and individuals. The Firm is headquartered in New York, with offices in Los Angeles, Washington, DC, London, Frankfurt, Munich, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Beijing.