SOLAR firm SunPower said late on Monday it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States and entered into a 'stalking horse' agreement with Complete Solaria to sell some of its business for $45 million in cash.

Shares of San Jose, California-headquartered SunPower were down about 29% at 57 cents premarket on Tuesday.

A stalking horse bid is used as a starting or minimally accepted offer that other interested bidders must surpass if they want to buy the asset or the company.

California-based Complete Solaria, a solar technology, services, and installation company will acquire SunPower's Blue Raven Solar business, New Homes business, and non-installing Dealer network.

SunPower had acquired Blue Raven for $165 million in 2021.

The company listed its assets and liabilities in the range of $1 billion to $10 billion, in a filing with the bankruptcy court in Delaware, court papers filed on Monday showed.

Additionally, SunPower said it intends to continue a sale process for its remaining assets. The company said following the sale process it plans to liquidate any remaining assets and undergo an efficient wind down of its operations.

Companies providing solar power and storage solutions have been struggling with rising inventory levels amid weakness in the rooftop solar market.

SunPower has had a challenging few quarters, its CEO left in February and the same month it received a subpoena from the U.S. securities regulator related to its accounting practices.

The difficulties came to a head last month when the company said it is pausing several operations, including new product shipments and deactivating lease and purchase deals on its platform.

 - Reuters