>Woodland Hills, California, July 5 (Bloomberg) -- Capstone Turbine Corp. shares jumped as much as 23 percent after the New Zealand Herald reported that Fletcher Challenge Ltd. may sell its 11 percent stake in the maker of generators for homes and small businesses.
The shares rose 5 5/16 to 44 3/8 in late morning trading, and earlier reached 47 7/8. They've almost tripled since Capstone sold a 12 percent stake to the public last week, giving the company a market value of almost $3.3 billion.
Fletcher plans to sell the Capstone stake to concentrate on its forestry, energy and construction businesses, the Herald said. Capstone lost a total of $142.2 million from 1998 through March 31 and doesn't expect to post a profit until 2002.
Capstone, based in Woodland Hills, California, for two years has made generators able to produce as much as 30 kilowatts of electricity, enough to power a convenience store. The company plans to begin shipping larger units this year.
Capstone's microturbines are fueled by waste gas from oil and natural-gas wells. They're seen as a rival technology to fuel cells, which produce electricity using an electrochemical reaction that emits almost no pollution.
Both technologies can generate electricity independent of a grid, allowing them to be used when inclement weather or something else disrupts normal supplies, or if power prices on the grid rise too high.
Capstone's biggest investors are Southern Union Co., a gas- utility owner based in Austin, Texas, and Vulcan Ventures Inc., the investment vehicle for Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen.
Others with large stakes in Capstone are Compaq Computer Corp. Chairman Benjamin Rosen and Montreal-based Hydro-Quebec, the largest exporter of power to the U.S.
Jul/05/2000 11:41 ET |
