On the evening of May 30th, global photovoltaic silicon giant TCL Central (002129) announced that the company plans to participate in the restructuring and external investment transactions of Maxeon Solar Technologies through convertible bonds, private placements, and other means, with an expected maximum investment of 197.5 million US dollars (approximately 1.43 billion yuan).
Specifically, TCL Central will use its own funds of $975 million to subscribe to Maxeon's new bonds, and will do so through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Central Singapore Investment Development Private Limited. After external regulatory approval, the company will also increase its capital by $100 million to its wholly-owned subsidiary to subscribe to Maxeon's targeted new shares.
After the completion of this transaction, TCL Central's shareholding ratio will increase from 22.39% to at least 50.1%, and Maxeon will become its controlling subsidiary.
It is understood that the restructured Maxeon will focus on the design, manufacturing, and sales of solar modules for Maxeon and SunPower brands, covering multiple continents worldwide. Its products are widely used in the photovoltaic rooftop and power plant markets. The restructuring plan has been approved by approximately 98% of 2025 convertible bondholders.
For this acquisition, TCL Central stated that Maxeon, as an important pivot of the company's international energy transformation strategy, possesses multiple patents and global brand and channel advantages. After holding the shares, TCL Central will promote the improvement of Maxeon's capital structure, business, and operations, further leverage its market advantages and technological innovation capabilities, and enhance the company's global competitiveness.
Continuously increasing holdings in Maxeon to the largest shareholder
It is understood that SunPower, the predecessor of Maxeon Company, was founded in 1985 and was the pioneer of IBC battery technology. As early as 2019, its controlling shareholder Total spun off SunPower's solar cell and component business (excluding the United States and Canada) to MAXEON, while Central subscribed to Maxeon's shares for $298 million, holding a 28.848% stake, making it the second largest shareholder of the latter.
In 2020, Maxeon was officially listed on NASDAQ in the United States, with the stock abbreviation "MAXN". Zhonghuan holds 8.9157 million shares of Maxeon. In the following years, Zhonghuan continued to increase its holdings and participate in additional issuances, surpassing Total to become Maxeon's largest shareholder.
At present, Maxeon has a large number of patents and is at the forefront of the industry in tile stacking technology. It has installed a large number of tile stacking components in more than 100 countries worldwide, ranking among the top in the industry. As a holding subsidiary of Maxeon, Huansheng Photovoltaic (Jiangsu) Co., Ltd. and its subsidiaries are the only domestic manufacturer to obtain intellectual property licenses for tile stacking technology, focusing on the global differentiated production of efficient tile stacking solar modules.
In early January of this year, Maxeon announced a loss of $267 million for its most recent fiscal year; The company is still on the brink of breaking even.
Maxeon's performance did not meet Peugeot's profit decline
Public information shows that the predecessor of TCL Zhonghuan can be traced back to Tianjin Semiconductor Materials Factory in 1958. In 2020, TCL Technology acquired the leading photovoltaic silicon wafer enterprise Zhonghuan Shares for a huge amount of 11 billion yuan, which was officially renamed TCL Zhonghuan in 2022.
It is reported that the company is a leading global manufacturer of photovoltaic materials, supplier of photovoltaic cell modules, and smart photovoltaic solution service provider. Its core business covers the research and development, production, and sales of semiconductor silicon wafers, photovoltaic monocrystalline silicon wafers, batteries, and modules.
In terms of performance, TCL Central achieved a revenue of 59.1 billion yuan in 2023, a decrease of 11.74% compared to the previous year; The net profit attributable to the parent company was 3.416 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 49.9%. In the first quarter of 2024, the company achieved a revenue of 9.93 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 43.62%; The net profit attributable to the parent company and the net profit after deduction suffered losses of 880 million yuan and 1.038 billion yuan, respectively, a year-on-year decrease of 139.05% and 146.78%.
In 2023, the overall market share of TCL Zhonghuan silicon wafers was about 23.4%, and the shipment volume of photovoltaic material products was about 114GW, a significant increase of 68% year-on-year; The shipment volume of photovoltaic modules increased by about 30% year-on-year, reaching 8.6GW. In the first quarter of this year, its sales of photovoltaic materials reached 34.95GW, a year-on-year increase of 40%; The proportion of N-type and large-sized (210 series) products shipped is close to 90%; The shipment volume of photovoltaic modules in this period was 1.6GW, a year-on-year increase of about 17%.
In addition, due to Maxeon's performance not meeting expectations and the delayed progress of its North American expansion project, TCL Central has carried out impairment treatment on its related investments and financial assets, resulting in asset impairment losses and fair value change losses of RMB 1.01 billion and RMB 440 million, respectively.
In addition, combined with Maxeon's investment losses and convertible bond interest income, the total negative impact on TCL's mid cycle performance was 1.69 billion yuan. It can be seen that Maxeon's operating performance urgently needs further improvement.