Bloom Energy has priced its upcoming stock offering.
In its filing, the company that has a plant in Newark would issue 18 million shares of Class A stock priced at between $13 and $15 a share or between $234 million and $270 million.
Bloom will also have Class B stock that allows company management and directors to have 98 percent of voting power over stock.
Bloom has applied to trade shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BE.
Preliminary filings last month offered the first detailed glimpse into the finances of the Silicon Valley company that employs more than 300 in Delaware.
The company continues to post losses and sees no signs of moving into the black for the foreseeable future.
News of the pending stock issue reignited debate in Delaware over Bloom’s agreement with the State of Delaware that feeds electricity from its fuel cells, with the additional costs borne by Delmarva Power ratepayers.
The agreement that helps the state move towards its goal of getting 25 percent of its electricity from renewables has been criticized as the cost of wind power and solar declines.
Bloom fuel cells or Bloom Boxes are powered by natural gas in Delaware, although the units can be fueled by gas from landfills.
Delmarva remains a top customer of Bloom.
The company is known as a “Unicorn,” since it stands out among Silicon Valley companies in its use of fuel cells. Private equity companies have pumped upwards of $2 billion into Bloom.
In its filings, the company did report progress in narrowing losses improving efficiency. It also sees promising markets in providing backup power for large companies and critical facilities such as hospitals.
In its filing, Bloom claims the fuel cells can address what it sees as the growing instability of the grid caused by the peaks and valleys of solar power.
Advocates of wind and solar claim such fears are overblown. Bloom critics also claim that small natural gas-powered plants can provide clean power at lower prices.
Bloom received a boost that may have spurred the stock offering when Congress retroactively approved incentives for fuel cell companies after earlier deciding against tax breaks.
According to its offering prospectus, Bloom has installed 312 megawatts of Bloom Energy Servers at customer sites across the U.S., Japan, India and South Korea. That amounts to only 20 percent more output than reported from the mid-sized Calpine gas-fired power plant in Dover.
Click here for a link to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Click link below for earlier commentary.
Pushback on minimum wage decision and a response to Bloom column
