Corporate News: U.S. Solar Developer Withdraws Its IPO
BrightSource Energy Inc.'s decision to cancel a planned IPO may have been a logical response to stock-market conditions, but the move adds to recent disappointments for the clean-technology industry.</br></br>The Oakland, Calif., solar power company on Thursday withdrew its registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission, after announcing late Wednesday night that it was canceling its IPO.</br></br>"We made this decision from a position of strength," BrightSource Chief Executive John Woolard said Thursday. "We're in a strong financial position, we have a great foundation of investors and our business continues as planned."</br></br>NRG Energy Inc., which is the lead investor in a 392-megawatt solar-power plant called Ivanpah that BrightSource is building in the California desert, said construction of the project was going well and that BrightSource is a strong, resourceful company.</br></br>Nevertheless, BrightSource's decision to sidestep an IPO is a sign that alternative-energy firms may not be welcome in the stock markets.