Vivint Solar has made a confidential filing for an initial public offering (IPO) through its parent company Vivint Inc, according to a report by news agency Reuters.
Vivint Inc has confidentially filed for the IPO with the US Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC), Reuters said. The news agency could not name its sources, which it described as “people familiar with the matter” for the information, saying they asked “not to be named because the matter is not public”. Vivint is owned by private equity firm Blackstone.
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Under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, a law passed in the US in 2012, companies that have less than US$1 billion of annual revenue can make confidential IPO filings with the SEC. Vivint, ranked one of the top two residential solar installers in the USA in a report published by analysis firm GTM Research in early July, could launch its IPO as early as this autumn, according to Reuters.
In January, Greentech Media referred to the possibility of Vivint going public in an article about cleantech firms that could offer IPOs in 2014. Vivint was not picked out as one of the top five most likely candidates for an IPO, which was the main focus of the article, but was mentioned among the other possible candidates.
The list of the top five was based on a set of criteria that Greentech Media said put Vivint and the four other companies named in an attractive position for institutional investors and investment banks. These criteria were that the companies had more than US$50 million in annual revenue, had achieved profitability or had profitability within their near-term reach, had “a compelling growth story” and were not involved with solar panel manufacturing or biofuels production.
The top five were named in different categories including 'energy efficiency' and 'home energy management'. The only solar firm in that top list, under the heading 'solar finance', was rival residential installer Sunrun.
PV Tech is seeking comment from Vivint.
