SunPower Closes New $275 Million Revolving Credit Facility and Enters Into Additional $200 Million Letter of Credit Facility

SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct 3, 2011 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWRA, SPWRB) today announced that it has signed a new two-year revolving credit facility.  This multi-bank syndicated facility, totaling $275 million, will be used for general corporate purposes including the repayment of the company's $50 million revolving credit facility with Union Bank, N.A. and its Euro 75 million revolving credit facility with Societe Generale, Milan Branch.  

The company also announced today that it has entered into a new standby letter of credit agreement with Deutsche Bank AG and Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas.  This facility, which provides for the issuance of $200 million in letters of credit, will be used to support the company's utility-scale solar power plants.  The new letter of credit facility is in addition to the $771 million letter of credit facility entered into by the company in August 2011.  

"Our new revolving credit agreement reduces our overall cost of capital, improves our balance sheet flexibility and liquidity, and further demonstrates the value of our relationship with Total," said Dennis Arriola, SunPower CFO.  "Additionally, our new letter of credit facility will further support our strong and growing commercial, utility and power plant (UPP) businesses in North America. However, the challenging market conditions continue to impact our global residential and commercial business.  As a result, we will revise our 2011 revenue and earnings outlook on our third quarter earnings conference call to be held on November 3, 2011."

About SunPower

SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWRA, SPWRB) designs, manufactures and delivers the highest efficiency, highest reliability solar panels and systems available today. Residential, business, government and utility customers rely on the company's quarter century of experience and guaranteed performance to provide maximum return on investment throughout the life of the solar system. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., SunPower has offices in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia. For more information, visit www.SunPowercorp.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Forward-looking statements are statements that do not represent historical facts and may be based on underlying assumptions. The company uses words and phrases such as "will," "reduces," "improves," "growing," "outlook" and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements in this press release, including forward-looking statements regarding:  (a) lowering cost of capital and improving balance sheet flexibility and liquidity; (b) benefits from the relationship with Total; (c) growing commercial and UPP businesses in North America and Europe; and (d) the expected timing for the revised 2011 guidance.  Such forward-looking statements are based on information available to the company as of the date of this release and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, some beyond the company's control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by these forward-looking statements, including risks and uncertainties such as:  (i) our ability to achieve the expected benefits from our relationship with Total, including through the credit support agreement; (ii) the impact of regulatory changes and the continuation of governmental and related economic incentives promoting the use of solar power; (iii) increasing competition in the industry and lower average selling prices; (iv) general business and economic conditions, including seasonality of the solar industry and growth trends in the solar industry; (v) the company's ability to increase or sustain its growth rate; (vi) the significant investment required to construct power plants and the company's ability to sell or otherwise monetize power plants; (vii) the availability of financing arrangements for the company's utilities projects and the company's customers; (viii) the company's liquidity, substantial indebtedness, and its ability to obtain additional financing; (ix) the company's visibility into 2011 revenue and earnings outlook; and (x) other risks described in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 2, 2011, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended July 3, 2011 and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the company's views as of any subsequent date, and the company is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any responsibility to, update or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SunPower is the registered trademark of SunPower Corp. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.  

SOURCE SunPower Corp.