Tesla Raises $226 Million in 1st U.S. Carmaker IPO in 54 Years
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The maker of the $109,000 electric Roadster bought by Brad Pitt and George Clooney sold 13.3 million shares at $17 each yesterday after offering them for $14 to $16, according to Bloomberg data and a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The Palo Alto, California-based company will use proceeds to pay for factories and possible acquisitions, the SEC filing showed. The IPO was the first by an American car company since Ford Motor Co. in 1956. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk, who has staked his personal fortune to Tesla after making almost $300 million selling PayPal Inc. and Zip2 Corp., is using the offering to fund a startup that expects to lose more money in the next two years as it tries to build a battery-powered sedan. “It might be something that gets people excited about the equity markets,” said Michael Cuggino, the San Francisco-based manager of the $6.45 billion Permanent Portfolio Fund, which has outperformed 97 percent of rival funds over the past five years. “It’s potentially a new technology with a lot of questions. The questions are whether it’s going to be profitable and has staying power.” The sale came after at least 35 companies worldwide postponed or withdrew IPOs since the start of May as the European debt crisis sent the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index down as much as 14 percent from its 2010 high. |
Source: Tesla Raises $226 Million in 1st U.S. Carmaker IPO in 54 Years
