Solyndra Will Not Move Forward with IPO

The company said that it has elected not to proceed with an initial public offering of shares of its common stock at this time due to adverse market conditions and the availability of alternative funding from existing investors.

The alternative funding for Solyndra will come from an agreement for the sale of secured convertible promissory notes to certain of its existing investors in an aggregate principal amount of US $175 million in a private placement. Proceeds from the sales of such notes will be used to fund the company’s existing operations and support its growth plans.

“Given the ongoing uncertainties in the public capital markets, we elected to pursue alternative funding from our existing investor base. This funding allows us to address strong customer demand by maintaining our aggressive growth plans,” said Dr. Chris Gronet, CEO of Solyndra.

The company expects first production from its Fab 2 manufacturing complex to occur in the fourth quarter of 2010, approximately two months ahead of schedule.

In September of last year, Vice President Joe Biden announced that the Department of Energy (DOE) had finalized a US $535 million loan guarantee for Solyndra. The funding is financing construction of the first phase of the Fab 2 facility. The guaranteed loan, expected to provide debt financing for approximately 73% of the project costs, will allow Solyndra to initiate construction of a solar panel fabrication facility in California.

Once completed, the plant is expected to have an annual manufacturing capacity of 500 megawatts per year. Solyndra estimates the new plant will initially create 3,000 construction jobs, and lead to as many as 1,000 jobs once the facility opens.

Solyndra's technology is a 14% efficient copper-indium-gallium-diselenide (CIGS)-based thin-film PV system. The company said that its system involves rolling CIGS thin-films into a cylindrical shape and then placing 40 of the cylinders into a 1-meter-by-2-meter panel.