For his part, Musk called the deal a “no brainer” and offered the idea of a package deal in which customers could purchase an electric auto, home battery and solar power system at the same time. SolarCity was co-founded by Elon Musk’s cousin, and Musk himself is the chairman.
Advertisement
It won’t happen if it doesn’t get majority votes at both companies, he said.
SolarCity shareholders seemed pleased with the news, with the company’s stock up 16 percent, to $24.50 in after-hours trading after the announcement. Under the terms of the deal, Tesla would acquire all of SolarCity’s outstanding shares of common stock in a swap, offering the equivalent of $26.50 to $28.50 per share.
Tesla doesn’t anticipate significant regulatory or other obstacles in completing a beneficial transaction promptly. SolarCity also makes electric vehicle chargers, and makes some of those available for free to Tesla owners.
At this stage no official response has been revealed by either party, but given that they already do business – Tesla supplies Solarcity with battery packs – insiders are confident a deal will be made. SolarCity closed with a market cap of $2.14 billion, with a 30% premium lifting the bidding figure to just under $2.8 billion.
Electric carmaker Tesla Motors confirmed Wednesday it was hoping to acquire solar panel producer SolarCity for up to $2.8 billion (2.5 billion euros).
SolarCity’s stock has since jumped by over 22%, while Tesla’s has fallen more than 8%.
If the deal goes through, SolarCity will adopt the Tesla brand and sell its solar panels alongside Tesla’s PowerWall home batteries. Musk explained that “instead of having 3 trips to a house to put in a vehicle charger”, deliver the Tesla, and install solar panels, it could all be done at the same time. “It’s an obvious thing to do”.
Advertisement
In a call to reporters, Musk described the deal as a “no brainer”, Reuters reported. “The world lacks for sustainable energy companies”.
