The nation's largest home security company aims to become a residential solar power market leader with its acquisition of Louisiana-based Sunpro Solar.
ADT (NYSE: ADT) on Tuesday announced it will purchase Sunpro Solar, a solar panel installation firm, for $825 million in a bid to enter the solar rooftop business. It will rebrand the company as "ADT Solar" and give its 6 million home security customers the chance to power their homes with solar energy.
"Residential solar represents a $15 billion annual market, but is still only in 3% of all U.S. homes," ADT president and CEO Jim DeVries said in a statement. "We believe we have the potential to grow ADT Solar into a multibillion-dollar business over time as we meaningfully increase the accessibility and penetration of residential solar across America.”
The combination will enable the Boca Raton-based company to scale ADT Solar while lowering overall customer costs, he added. ADT reports its field team visits 10,000 households per day and has a sales force surpassing 3,000 people, creating opportunities for cross-selling between security and solar customers.
ADT will acquire Sunpro for $160 million in cash and 77.8 million shares of its common stock, with a total enterprise value of $825 million.
Founded in 2008, Sunpro designs, sells, installs and maintains solar panel systems in residential and commercial properties. And it appears Americans are hungry for solar power: Sunpro reported a 90% year-over-year increase in installs in 2020 alone, a figure that will grow as more people turn to sustainable energy options like solar to power their homes. The solar energy firm has 3,600 full-time employees across its 56 U.S. locations.
Sunpro founder Marc Jones and the company's management team will join the ADT Solar team when the transaction closes.
“With our shared mission to further advance smart home technologies and renewable energy solutions for customers, our expansion will make a meaningful difference in how our customers live daily," he said.
Shares of ADT were priced at $10.28 Tuesday afternoon, up over 14% from the Tuesday market open.
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