Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Noble Environmental Power offers 24M shares in IPO

By Mass High Tech Staff

In a followup to a May announcement of Essex, Conn.-based Noble Environmental Power LLC filing for an initial public offering, the company has reported that it plans to offer about 24.44 million common shares, according to published reports.

Noble Environmental Power did not reveal an updated price range of the stock shares, PE Hub reports, although in May the company announced its intention to raise $375 million.

The company plans to trade on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol NEPI. Lehman Brothers, Credit Suisse and JPMorgan are serving as co-lead underwriters.

Noble Environmental Power currently operates 282 megawatts of wind power, and is planning on more than 4,000 megawatts under management by 2012. The company’s current and future projects are located predominantly in New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Texas, Minnesota and Michigan.

Though founded in 2004, the company’s first wind parks, located in upstate New York, did not begin operations until March 2008.

As of the end of 2007, the 152-person firm posted a $42 million loss for 2007 on no revenue. Noble expects to generate revenue from the sale of power and capacity to power companies, as well as through the sale and trading of renewable energy credits.

Long-term debt from a variety of sources, including The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and JPMP Wind Energy, a private equity division of JPMorgan Chase & Co., has financed almost $927 million for the company.

Noble Environmental Power has also signed more than $1.5 billion worth of purchase agreements with GE Energy to buy more than 870 1.5 megawatt turbines.