Israeli micro-inverter manufacturer SolarEdge has filed papers for a US$125 million flotation on the NASDAQ stock exchange.
The form, filed with the SEC on Wednesday, cites the potential of the US and Chinese residential markets and increasing demand for power optimisers. The company also said it would consider working with “adjacent markets” such as energy storage, home automation and smart grids.
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The company said it would use the proceeds of the sale to enter new markets and take advantage of additional financial flexibility.
“As they are a global inverter and power optimiser supplier, the additional money raised in an IPO would allow them to expand into new PV markets, invest money into R&D to bring new products to the market and compete more effectively with the largest module level power electronics supplier Enphase,” said Cormac Gilligan, senior PV market analyst, IHS.
“SolarEdge were ranked as the ninth largest PV inverter supplier between Q1-Q3’14 based on revenues,” said Gilligan. “They have traditionally had a big presence in residential and small commercial segments in the EMEA [Europe, Middle East and Africa] region with large market share in Germany, United Kingdom and the Middle East. However, in recent years as the market in Europe has declined, they have been one of the more proactive suppliers in entering into key markets such as the United States.”
“In the Americas region, they were ranked number five in the first nine months of 2014 which is attributed to its rapid growth in the United States as it is one of the approved inverter vendors for SolarCity. In 2015, IHS forecasts that the US residential and small commercial market will reach over 2GWac which is the main target markets for SolarEdge.”
Gilligan also said that they could secure JET certification in order to allow them to enter the Japanese market. The company also has an advantage on rival Enphase in the commercial-scale market that it could further exploit with the proceeds of the IPO.
“Overall the global residential and small commercial market is forecast to grow 18% to reach just under 15GWac in 2015 and the IPO will position SolarEdge well to take advantage of this growth in the market and increase its market share globally,” he said.
The filing also revealed that the company had revenues for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014 of US$133.2 million, up from US$79.0 million in the previous year.
It was also revealed that SolarCity accounts for 19.1% of SolarEdge's revenue in the fiscal year of 2014 and distributor Krannich 7.8%. It was also revealed that the company is in a legal dispute with rival inverter manufacturer, Beacon Power, over patent infringement. Beacon claimed two US patents had been breached. SolarEdge denies the allegation and has launched a counterclaim.
