Bloom Energy, a US-based fuel cell energy system producer backed by energy utility Eon, raised $270m in an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday.
The company issued 18 million shares priced at the top of their $13 to $15 range. If the underwriters take up the 30-day option to buy another 2.7 million shares the size of the offering could increase to almost $319m.
Founded in 2001 as Ion America, Bloom Energy provides a stationary power generation device called the Bloom Energy Server, which can produce baseload power from flexible lithium-ion batteries at any time.
The systems are usually used to supplement renewable energy systems at corporate buildings, and Bloom often partners with utilities that purchase the systems in order to charge users directly for the electricity they generate.
Bloom made a $281m net loss in 2017 but near doubled its revenue to $376m in the same period. The company had raised approximately $1.38bn in funding prior to the offering, according to media reports and press releases.
Eon first invested in 2013, providing $100m of funding for Bloom alongside $30m from financial services firm Credit Suisse, having secured $150m from unnamed investors at a $2.7bn valuation two years earlier. Undisclosed backers added $130m two years later.
Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), New Enterprise Associates (NEA), DAG Ventures, GSV Capital, Apex Venture Partners, Mobius Venture Capital, SunBridge Partners, Madrone Capital, Alberta Investment Management, New Zealand Superannuation Fund and Advanced Equities are also past investors.
Eon owned a stake sized at less than 5% pre-offering. Bloom’s largest investors are Canada Pension Plan Investment (20.5% pre-IPO), KPCB (15.9%), Kuwait Investment Authority (10.7%), NEA (8.8%), Alberta Investment Management (7.6%) and Advanced Equities (6.6%).
The company’s investors all own class B shares, giving them 10 votes for each share, while the shares issued in the offering entitle the holders to one vote per share.
JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley are joint lead book-running managers for the IPO while Credit Suisse, KeyBanc Capital Markets and BofA Merrill Lynch are book-running managers. Baird, Cowen, HSBC, Oppenheimer and Raymond James are the co-managers.
Bloom’s shares opened at $18.70 on their first day of trading yesterday and closed at $25.00.
– Photo courtesy of Bloom Energy.