GT Solar ready to fire up IPO; Hong Kong’s GCL Silicon Tech files $863 million IPO

By Steve Gelsi, MarketWatch
Last update: 12:24 p.m. EDT July 21, 2008

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) – GT Solar International awaits its highly anticipated initial public offering this week as companies from the solar-energy sector provide a flicker of life in the moribund IPO market.

With few other IPOs surfacing nowadays, investors have been receptive to deals tied to alternative energy in the wake of record oil prices and growing concern about greenhouse-gas emissions.

GT Solar, (SOLR) a Merrimack, N.H., manufacturer of equipment used to make photovoltaic wafers, plans to go public at $15.50 to $17.50 a share.

With 30.3 million shares in the IPO, GT Solar will raise about $500 million via underwriters Credit Suisse and UBS Investment Bank.

The IPO is expected to price Wednesday night for its first day of trading Thursday under the Nasdaq symbol SOLR.

Scott Sweet of IPO Boutique said the deal appears to be drawing large interest from institutional and retail investors. “This looks to be a solid IPO,” he said.

GT Solar reported net income of $36 million and revenue of $244 million for the first quarter of 2008.