Total Q1 Profit Jumps 35%, Will Acquire 60% Of SunPower For $1.38B

France's Total TOT, Europe's second-largest oil company, said its first-quarter profit surged 35% to $4.6 billion as higher crude prices helped the company offset lost production in Libya. The company's first-quarter production fell 2 percent to 2.37 million barrels of oil equivalent a day from a year earlier, according to Bloomberg News. Total, as other European and U.S. oil majors have said when delivering their first-quarter results, noted first-quarter production was hampered by the escalating violence in Libya, Africa's third-largest oil producing nation. The company is expecting to increase output by 2 percent a year through 2015 and is forecasting the start of a major new project in Angola, Africa's top oil producing country, later this year. Total also said it will take a 60% in stake in SunPower SPWRA, the second-largest U.S. solar panel maker, for $1.38 billion, a friendly offer aimed at bolstering the French company's solar footprint. The offer price represents a 46 percent premium over the April 27, 2011 closing price of SunPower's Class A common stock and a 49 percent premium over the April 27, 2011 closing price of SunPower's Class B common stock, and values SunPower's equity at $2.3 billion, the companies said in a statement. Under the terms of the tender offer agreement, SunPower shareholders will receive $23.25 per share in cash, according to the statement. Total will also provide California-based SunPower with $1 billion in credit support over five years. Total said it considered multiple solar investments for two years before deciding to move forward with SunPower.