SOLAR POWER PLANT BLDR IN $182.5BIL IPO

BrightSource Seeking Up to $182.5 Million in Solar-Thermal IPO
Andrew Herndon, March 21, 2012 (Bloomberg News)

"BrightSource Energy Inc (BRSE) the developer of solar-thermal power plants, is seeking as much as $182.5 million in an initial public offering…The company is offering 6.9 million shares at $21 to $23 apiece…The stock would be listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol BRSE. The offering is expected to be priced on April 11…

"BrightSource, based in Oakland, California, plans to use proceeds from the IPO to develop additional solar-thermal power plants, which use mirrors to focus the sun’s energy on boilers that make steam to drive turbines. The company has 13 contracts to sell power from projects totaling 2.4 gigawatts of capacity to electric utilities of PG&E Corp. (PCG) and Edison International (EIX)…"

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"BrightSource is vying with other developers including Abengoa SA (ABG), Areva SA, Acciona SA (ANA), Siemens AG (SIE) and ABB Ltd. (ABBN) to commercialize its technology…Other solar-thermal developers are using so- called parabolic trough systems, with curved mirrors that focus sunlight on an overhead tube that contains a heat transfer fluid and is routed to steam generators…The [company’s] first power plant is expected to enter operation in 2013…[It] is backed by a $1.6 billion loan guarantee from the U.S. Energy Department, as well as equity investments from Google Inc. and NRG Energy Inc. (NRG) …

"Alstom SA (ALO), an existing investor, and Caithness Energy LLC’s development unit agreed to purchase $65 million and $10 million worth of the company’s stock, respectively, in a concurrent private placement…Alstom, BrightSource’s largest backer currently with a 19.9 percent stake, would [then] own 21.9 percent…[O]ther backers include Draper Fisher Jurvetson [5.9 percent]…VantagePoint Capital Patners [24 percent]…and Morgan Stanley (MS) [9.4 percent]…Goldman Sachs (GS) Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. (C), and Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) are leading the proposed offering…[and] have an option to purchase an additional 1.035 million shares."