Major Tesla investors support SolarCity deal

New York

SOME of Tesla Motor Inc's biggest investors have signalled support for chief executive Elon Musk's plan to buy solar power company SolarCity Corp, although the electric car maker's stock cratered on Wednesday, lopping more than the US$2.8 billion value of the proposed deal off Tesla's market capitalisation.

"It's a natural evolution of their mission to transform transportation into a sustainable business," said Joe Dennison, a portfolio manager of Zevenbergen Capital Investments, which has about 600,000 Tesla shares, or about 0.4 per cent of shares outstanding.

It is still early in the process, he said, but "we expect it to go…