IPO REPORT: Canadian Solar's $116 Mln IPO Eyes Energy Surge
NEW YORK (Dow Jones) -- Canadian Solar Inc. on Monday set plans to raise up to $116 million in an initial public offering as the China-based company eyes surging interest in alternative energy.
Incorporated in Canada, but based in China, the maker of silicon, cells and modules for sun-powered electricity plans to trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol "CSIQ".
The company said in a filing with regulators that it plans to sell 7.7 million shares at $13-$15 a share.
Shareholders in the company include a fund managed by HSBC (HBC) , ATS Automation Tooling Systems and Jafco Asia Technology Fund.
The company rang up $3.8 million in net income and $18.3 million in revenue in 2005. In the first six months of 2006, revenue jumped to $26 million from $7 million in the year-ago period.
The IPO comes amid a forecast of $18.6 billion in solar power industry revenue by 2010, according to statistics from Solarbuzz cited by Canadian Solar in its IPO.
Risks facing the business include shortages and costs of high purity silicon, and the high cost of buying the equipment for customers.
Worldwide installations of solar power systems are expected to grow at an annual rate of 17.4% to 2010, led by on-grid shipments, according to Solarbuzz.
"We believe growth in the near term will be constrained by the limited availability of high-purity silicon, but is expected to accelerate after 2007," the company said.
The IPO comes amid a steady flow of alternative energy IPOs including ethanol makers VeraSun (VSE) and Aventine Renewable (AVR) as well as other solar companies such as Photowatt Technologies, SunPower Corp. (SPWR) and Suntech Power (STP) .
Venture funding of alternative energy is on the rise as well.
In the third quarter, 14 companies raised $110 million in venture capital in the alternative energy and conservation industries, according to a poll by Dow Jones VentureOne and Ernst & Young. That's nearly triple the year-ago investment.
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