Sunrun Inc., a company that leases solar power systems to
homeowners, could make its initial public offering documents public
as soon as next week, according to a person familiar with the
matter.
Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are co-lead
managers of the IPO, which is currently filed confidentially under
provisions of the JOBS Act with securities regulators, the person
said.
A spokesman for Sunrun declined to comment. Dow Jones reported
earlier this year that Sunrun was working with bankers on a
potential IPO.
Sunrun installs solar panels on residential homes either for no
upfront cost or at low cost. Sunrun owns the solar panels and
receives monthly payments from homeowners for the power generated
by the panels. It also receives government tax incentives to cover
its costs.
The San Francisco-based company, which launched in 2007,
competes with publicly traded SolarCity Corp., and Vivint Solar
Inc.
Should Sunrun go public, it would be a rare instance of a
clean-technology IPO in recent years. The clean-tech sector
received billions of dollars from venture capitalists in the past
decade, but there have been few successful exits. Successes include
Sunrun's competitor SolarCity, which has risen since the pricing of
its IPO in late 2012 at $8 a share to trading at around $56 a share
today. SolarCity's market capitalization is about $5.36
billion.
This year another company in the sector, venture-backed
SolarEdge Technologies Inc., which makes power electronics used in
solar installations, went public. SolarEdge and Sunrun are both
benefiting from a continuing rapid rise in the adoption of solar
technology. SolarEdge priced its IPO at $18 per share in March and
has since risen in trading, reaching $38.91 at the close of trading
Tuesday.
Sunrun's registration filing with the Securities and Exchange
Commission will reveal that the company had close to 80,000
customers as of the end of the first quarter, according to the
person familiar with the matter. That compares with the 218,000
customers that SolarCity had as of the first quarter, and Vivint's
42,146.
Sunrun also had contracts to receive about $1.7 billion in
payments from customers, the person said. Only a small portion of
that is recognized as revenue each year. SolarCity noted $6.1
billion in contracted payments in its most recent earnings
statement.
It remains unclear what value Sunrun will seek in the IPO. In
its last private round, the company was valued at about $1.3
billion. Venture investors in the company include Accel Partners,
Foundation Capital, Madrone Capital Partners and Sequoia
Capital.
Write to Yuliya Chernova at yuliya.chernova@wsj.com
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