It's Here! Tesla Motors Files For IPO

Tesla Motors, Inc. has finally filed for an initial public offering.  The maker of the electric roadster and electric sedan filed to sell up to $100 million in common stock in an IPO after the close of trading on Friday. As with most IPO filings, Tesla did not give any financial term.  But the filing also does not give a proposed stock ticker nor whether it plans to list on the NYSE or NASDAQ.

The underwriting group is a solid group of go-to underwriters: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, and Deutsche Bank.  As of December 31, 2009, Tesla had sold 937 Tesla Roadsters to customers in 18 countries and is developing its planned Model S sedan with a planned launch in 2012.

Since inception through September 30, 2009, Tesla recognized $108.2 million in revenue. As of September 30, 2009, it had an accumulated deficit of $236.4 million.  The company experienced net losses of -$30.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2006, -$78.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2007, -$82.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2008, and -$31.5 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2009.

Tesla listed $106.547 million cash on its books as of September 30, 2009.  After the offering, the authorized capital stock will consist of 2,100,000,000 shares with a par value of $0.001 per share… 2,000,000,000 shares are designated as common stock 100,000,000 shares are designated as preferred stock.  As you look through the IPO filing’s use of proceeds, you will realize that this $100 million figure is merely noted for filing purposes.  It sounds as if the company will be selling more than $100 million in stock at the IPO.

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The use of proceeds is broad as are most IPOs and there may be selling holders making shares sales well.  The listed use of proceeds data is as follows:
“…to fund planned capital expenditures, working capital and other general corporate purposes. We currently anticipate making aggregate capital expenditures of between $100 million and $125 million during the year ended December 31, 2010. Such amounts include the $33 million of our anticipated powertrain and Model S manufacturing facility projects that will not be funded by advances under our loan facility with the United States Department of Energy, or DOE Loan Facility. We expect to use a portion of this offering to fund such amount. We may also use a portion of the net proceeds to potentially expand our current business through acquisitions of complementary businesses, products or technologies. However, we do not have agreements or commitments for any specific acquisitions at this time. We may find it necessary or advisable to use the net proceeds for other purposes, and subject to our obligations under our DOE Loan Facility, we will have broad discretion in the application of the net proceeds…. We have agreed to set aside 50% of the net proceeds from this offering, up to a maximum of $100 million, to fund a separate, dedicated account under our DOE Loan Facility. We will use amounts deposited into this account to pre-fund certain costs of our powertrain and Model S manufacturing facility projects, which would have otherwise been funded through advances made under the DOE Loan Facility, as well as to fund any cost overruns for these projects. These amounts are in addition to our obligation to fund $33 million of our anticipated powertrain and Model S manufacturing facility projects that will not be funded by advances under our DOE Loan Facility. Once the funds deposited into this dedicated account have been used in full, the pre-funded costs will be reimbursed to us through true-up advances under our DOE Loan Facility.”

JON C. OGG
JANUARY 29, 2010