Solar tech company Nextracker prices above range at $24 a share in good sign for IPO market

cnbc.com:

The solar technology company Nextracker priced its initial public offering just above its stated $20 to $23 per share range, people with knowledge of the transaction told CNBC.

The order book for Fremont, California-based Nextracker was «well subscribed,» meaning demand allowed the company to exceed expectations on pricing, sources who declined to be identified speaking about the process told CNBC earlier Wednesday.

The IPO is expected to raise about $638 million by selling 26.6 million shares at $24 each, which is well above the $535 million upper limit the company said it was seeking in a filing last week. That is also before the so-called greenshoe option that allows bankers to sell more stock, the people said.

The development is a good sign for the moribund IPO market. Proceeds from public listings fell 94% last year after the Federal Reserve began its most aggressive rate-increasing campaign in decades. Investors soured on the shares of unprofitable tech companies in particular, many of which are still underwater after listing in 2020 and 2021.

The Nextracker IPO is arguably the first meaningful public listing this year as it is set to be the biggest U.S. IPO since autonomous driving firm Mobileye raised $990 million in October.

Bookrunners first secured anchor investments in Nextracker from BlackRock and Norges Bank Investment Management, which helped drive demand for shares, the people said.

Nextracker will begin trading on the Nasdaq exchange Thursday morning under the symbol NXT, according to one of the people.

The company, which was a subsidiary of manufacturer Flex, sells hardware and software that enables solar panels to follow the movement of the sun, improving the output of solar power plants.

JPMorgan