Solyndra Eyes $300M IPO
Solyndra, the California maker of thin-film photovoltaic cells, has filed for an Initial Public Offering of its shares that could be worth up to $300 million. Solyndra announced its planned IPO on Friday evening, when the media cycle was largely focused on the climate change agreement brokered in Copenhagen.
Listed, as underwriters on the Securities and Exchange (SEC) filling, are Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
Solyndra only started selling its panels in the summer of 2008 and in that relatively short time it has scored some impressive sales. Last month it signed a supply agreement with Italian installer Sun System that could make it $105 million over the next few years. In July, Solyndra secured a $238 million, three-year supply contract with German solar power company Umwelt-Sonne-Energie. In total the company has scored has scored more than $2 billion in backlog order since going commercial.
In the SEC filing, Solyndra reported revenues of $58.8 million in the nine months ended October 3, up from roughly the same period a year ago and a net loss of $119.8 million, compared with a $179.8 loss registered a year-ago period.
Solyndra is also one of the few clean energy companies to have scored one of the Department of Energy’s loan guarantees, a $535 million guarantee, which the company will use to support the construction of a West Coast manufacturing facility.
Solyndra’s filing comes as the stock market is making a return in bullish territory. The major IPO in cleantech this year was from battery maker A123, which raised $378 million.
