A123 Systems raised the expected price range for this week’s initial public offering, suggesting strong demand for shares of the maker of lithium-ion batteries.
The company, which plans to go public on the Nasdaq, said it now expects to sell shares at between $10 to $11.50 each, up from a previous range of $8 to $9.50. At the high end, the offering could be worth nearly $300 million, including shares being sold by current investors....MOREHere's the Boston Globe story they link to:
Raining Checks
There is no shortage of people writing big checks to A123 Systems Inc., the Watertown battery company. Now public stockholders are about to pile on.A123 is expected to go public this week in an initial stock offering worth about $200 million, by far the most important Massachusetts IPO of the year. It’s the stock market’s glitziest offering in a week that may turn out to be the busiest for IPOs since December 2007. Expect the deal to be priced tomorrow.
If A123 is a new name to your ear, you haven’t been paying attention to the hype over electric cars and hybrid autos. Many people believe A123’s lithium-ion technology is going to be a hit in the auto industry, though the company’s batteries are already used in consumer products such as power tools and have applications in electric power grids.
A123 originally filed its IPO paperwork in August last year. The stock market was already weak by that time, but it fell off a cliff soon after. The company’s IPO plans were put on the shelf, and it looked as though they could stay there a long while.
That was a serious problem because A123, for all its promise, was producing red ink by the barrel.
But money started to rain on A123 from many different directions. Affiliates of General Electric Co. decided to invest $30 million in the company last fall. Venture capital investors, who had been looking forward to the IPO and an investment exit strategy, were writing checks instead by the spring. They ponied up another $30 million in April and May, though half came again from GE....MORE
