Vivint ultimately pulled out of the deal, citing SunEdisons failure to meet its obligations
under the merger agreement, but the company has considered several partnership opportunities in the years since, according to the filing, including with Sunrun.
The first notion that a merger could offer shared value between the two rival firms dates back to 2016, Jurich said.
The industrial logic made a lot of sense, Jurich said, adding that the two companies have footprints that overlap substantially, which would lead
to lower fixed costs.
Though details are sparse, the public filing showed that Sunrun and Vivint execs met with each other between late 2016 and mid-2018 to discuss the benefits of a merger, but no specific terms were discussed at that time.
A bidding war
At the beginning of the year, following interest from several buyers, Vivint Solar kicked off a formal bidding process, in lieu of striking a deal
with one of its existing suitors.
The company reached out to two dozen prospective bidders, the majority of which were financial firms, the filing said.
Of those 24 bidders earlier this year, five of them expressed formal interest in February, per the filing, including Sunrun.
Then the coronavirus began
spreading across the country, hamstringing an industry largely dependent on door-to-door sales. Between March 4 and 18, Vivints stock fell from about $12 a
share to less than $4.
Two bidders ended up pulling out, citing the pandemic, leaving Sunrun and two other firms, which submitted a joint indication of
interest, locked in a bidding war that played out virtually from April through June.
Sunrun ultimately won the bid. After it came up to Vivints
asking price of 0.55 shares of Sunrun stock for each share of Vivint stock, Sunrun signed the agreement the night of July 6, which was publicly announced just before 10 p.m.
We did the entire transaction virtually, Jurich said. Counterintuitively, its faster to get things done over video, she said.
Its been really effective because you dont have to be flying around the country. More people can be invited into a meeting. Youre more rigorous about writing things down.