Solar installer and financier SolarCity has set the terms of its planned IPO, and says in a filing on Tuesday that it intends to sell 10,065,012 shares at between $ 13 and $ 15 per share. At the midpoint of that range SolarCity would raise $ 141 million, and would have a market value of $ 1.2 billion. At the high range, SolarCity would raise $ 151 million.
According to a Reuters report last week, SolarCity plans to go public before the end of 2012. When the company filed its S-1 back in April — which became public last month — it said it could raise up to $ 201 million. Based in San Mateo, south of San Francisco, and founded in 2006, SolarCity wants to be listed on the NASDAQ under the symbol “SCTY.”
If SolarCity has a successful IPO it could be an important bellweather for venture-backed solar and next generation energy technology exits. There have been very few in 2012 — for example, solar project developer BrightSource ditched its planned IPO because it wasn’t getting the valuation it wanted. But SolarCity has been able to benefit from the drop in cost of solar panels.
SolarCity recorded $ 59.55 million in revenue and $ 73.71 million in net losses in 2011, compared with $ 32.43 million in revenue and $ 47.07 million in net losses in 2010. For the first six months of this year, the company posted $ 71.42 million in revenue and $ 48.91 million in net losses.
SolarCity raised $ 200 million in venture funding, and its investors include Draper Fisher Jurvetson, DBL Investors, Generation Investment Management and Tesla Motors’ CEO Elon Musk. This would be the second large IPO for Musk’s investments, following Tesla.
 |
 |