Complete Solaria, an integrated provider of solar installation solutions using Solaria’s own solar modules, plans to list on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker “CSLR” by the end of July 2023.
Residential solar solutions provider Complete Solaria plans to list as a public company later this month upon completion of a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger with Freedom Acquisition I Corporation. California-based Complete Solaria, an integrated provider of solar installation solutions using its own 360 to 400 Watt solar modules, plans to list itself on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker “CSLR” by the end of July, subject to closing conditions in connection with the business combination.
Freedom Acquisition is a $250 million SPAC platform established in February 2021 by Tidjane Thiam, Adam Gishen and Abhishek Bhatia. Thiam and Gishen have financial services and investor relations experience from over two decades at Credit Suisse and Prudential. Bhatia previously served as group chief executive officer of insurance firm FWD Group.
Complete Solaria’s public offering via SPAC merger is expected to provide gross proceeds of $376 million, prior to any potential redemptions and payment of transaction expenses, which includes $346 million of cash held in Freedom’s trust account and promissory notes.
According to a June 30 investor relations presentation, Complete Solaria anticipates generating $200 million of revenue this year as a “one-stop shopping model” for residential solar solutions. The Utah-based company reports a cluster of seven residential solar companies based in and around the Salt Lake City, Utah area, where Sunrun and Vivint Solar also operate.
Complete Solaria is led by Will Anderson, co-founder and chairman of Complete Solar, chief financial officer Brian Wuebbels, the former CFO of NIDEC, GCL Solar and SunEdison, and president Vikas Desai, who founded SunPower’s residential business.
Complete Solaria recently encountered a slow down at its Lehi, Utah semiconductor manufacturing facility, running at half speed of 286 day cycle time in 2022 versus 140 days in 2021. The company retained the services of T.J. Rodgers, former chief executive of Cypress Semiconductors who has also worked with Enphase Energy and SunPower, to serve as executive chairman to scale up Complete Solaria’s manufacturing operations.
In November 2022, Solaria announced plans to merge with installer Complete Solar and float the resulting Complete Solaria business as a vertically-integrated company similar to SunPower. The SPAC merger was announced in October 2022, pending closing conditions for the companies’ merger.
Marathon Capital is capital markets advisor and Cooley is legal advisor for Complete Solaria. Cohen & Company, J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley were capital markets advisor and book-running managers for the SPAC, with Paul Hastings as its legal advisor.
