After postponing its public market debut because of Superstorm Sandy (the irony of that can’t go unmentioned), SolarCity is on the verge of an IPO. Seven months after filing its prospectus, the company has priced its IPO shares between $13 and $15, according to its SEC filing.
The San Mateo-based solar-energy company is selling 10.07 million shares, hoping to raise $151 million. Public market trading in the stock is likely to start in the next few weeks.
Founded by brothers Lyndon and Peter Rive, SolarCity installs solar-energy systems on the roofs of private homes, industrial and government buildings, schools, and shopping malls. Customers include Walmart, Stanford University, and SpaceX. The last contract is no coincidence. Tesla Motors (TSLA) and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who is the cousin of the Rive brothers, is the SolarCity chairman. Having Musk on its board has seemed to help SolarCity, as it’s one of the most anticipated alternative energy IPO since Tesla.
If the IPO performs well, as is expected, it will be a bright end to a dismal year for U.S.-based green tech investments. Green energy companies raised 87 percent less on the public markets during the the first quarter of 2012 as compared to 2011. The overall environment was so dodgy for anything “green” that BrightSource Energy, a solar thermal power plant startup, pulled its IPO in April, saying it couldn’t get the valuation it wanted. And the bad news didn’t end there for North America-based green energy companies. Thanks to a surplus of low-cost Chinese-manufactured solar panels, prices for solar panels fell20 percent. That’s put the squeeze on solar-panel manufacturers like First Solar (FSLR) and Suntech Power (STP), both of which have taken stock price hits this year as they’ve struggled to compete.
But the falling cost of solar panels has been a boon for SolarCity, which acts as a third party between photovoltaic cell manufacturers, and the consumers and businesses that want to tap into savings that solar power can offer. As the price for panels has fallen, so has the cost of using solar energy in comparison to getting electricity from your local utility. “While these developments have adversely impacted panel manufacturers and the overall upstream market, we and other downstream companies have benefited significantly,” SolarCity wrote in its filing. “In 2006, the year we commenced business, solar panel prices were 472 percent higher than now.”
For the nine months ending September 2012, SolarCity lost $77 million on $103 million in revenue. In 2011, the company lost $73 million on $59 million in sales.
The company will trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker SCTY. Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, Needham & Company, Roth Capital Partners and BofA Merrill Lynch are underwriters.
SolarCity Preps for IPO, Prices Its Shares
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SolarCity Preps for IPO, Prices Its Shares
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SolarCity Preps for IPO, Prices Its Shares
