Blackstone’s Vivint Solar hopes for warm IPO reception

Vivint Solar, which is backed by The Blackstone Group, today registered to go public in an offering that would raise up to $200 million.

The lead underwriters for the offering are Goldman Sachs & Co, BofA Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse, with co-underwriting from Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank Securities and Barclays, according to the S-1 filed with the SEC.

Vivint, a Provo, Utah-based provider of home solar energy systems, did not disclose the number of shares it plans to offer or the share price. The filing notes that after the IPO Blackstone “will continue to own a majority of the voting power of all outstanding shares of the common stock.”

Blackstone bought Vivint on Nov. 16, 2012, through 313 Acquisition LLC. The limited liability company is managed by “a board of managers and Blackstone Capital Partners VI LP,” the prospectus states.

Vivint posted a net loss of $56.47 million on revenue of $6.17 million as of Dec. 31, 2013, compared to a net loss of $3.30 million on revenue of $109,000 for calendar 2012, according to the filing.

For the first six months of this year, Vivint recorded a net loss of $76.14 million on revenue of $10.06 million, compared to a net loss of $22.74 million on revenue of $1.92 million in the first six months of 2013, the filing states.

Vivint competes with Solar City, which went public in December 2012 at $8 per share. Solar City’s shares closed at $71.39 today, giving it a market cap of more than $6.5 billion.

News of Vivint’s IPO plans were first reported by Reuters about three weeks ago.

Photo: Vivint Solar technician Eduardo Aguilar installs solar panels on the roof of a house in Mission Viejo, Calif., Oct. 25, 2013. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni