AAA Fluence flies on to Nasdaq in $868m IPO

Fluence flies on to Nasdaq in $868m IPO

Fluence, the Germany-based energy storage system provider launched by industrial equipment producer Siemens and electric utility AES, is floating on the Nasdaq Global Market today in an $868m initial public offering.

The company priced 31 million shares at $28.00 each, significantly higher than the $21 to $24 range it had set for the offering last week.

Founded in 2018 as a joint venture between the corporates, Fluence produces grid-scale battery storage systems which improve the efficiency of renewable energy installations.

The company made an $82.8m net loss in the first nine months of this year from approximately $493m in revenue. It will use $50m of the IPO proceeds to repay $25m promissory notes from AES and Siemens.

Fluence agreed a $125m investment from the government-owned Qatar Investment Authority in a December 2020 deal structured so that Siemens and AES would each own 44% of its shares once the transaction closed, valuing the company at about $1bn.

JP Morgan Securities, Morgan Stanley, Barclays Capital and BofA Securities are joint lead book-running managers for the IPO while Citigroup Global Markets, Credit Suisse Securities (USA), UBS Securities, Evercore Group, HSBC Securities (USA) and RBC Capital Markets are joint book-running managers.

The co-managers for the offering are Nomura Securities International, Robert W Baird, Raymond James, Seaport Global Securities, Penserra Securities and Siebert Williams Shank. The underwriters can buy up to 4.65 million more shares in the next 30 days, potentially upsizing the offering to $998m.