TotalEnergies Sued Over $250 Million Deal for SunPower Segment

TotalEnergies SE is facing investor litigation over claims it engineered the underpriced $250 million sale of a SunPower Corp. business segment to the French conglomerate’s US unit.

The shareholder derivative lawsuit accuses TotalEnergies of exploiting its “extraordinary” veto rights over SunPower—in which it allegedly holds a 50.5% voting stake—to put its thumb on the scale when the solar business moved to unload its “commercial and industrial solutions” division. TotalEnergies is the former Total SA.

“The special committee did not have the authority to accept any deal without TotalEnergies’ approval, and TotalEnergies never intended to allow the sale of the CIS ...