SAN FRANCISCO — Tesla Motors could file plans soon for an initial public offering, according to Reuters. The electric-car company has been openly discussing the prospect of an IPO for nearly two years.
The Reuters report cited two unnamed sources, saying Tesla "plans to go public soon" and that an IPO filing "is expected any day."
A company statement said there would be no comment on "rumor or speculation." But Tesla executives and investors have not been so reticent in the past concerning plans for a public stock offering.
At a February 2008 tech conference, Tesla founder Elon Musk said the company could go public "within the end of this year or next year." That same month, in an interview with the Financial Times, Musk said the company was planning a public offering and a private placement, hoping to raise $250 million from investors "over the next two years." A Tesla executive later "clarified" Musk's remarks, telling reporters that an IPO was unlikely before 2009.
In May 2008, however, Musk told a California tech conference that he planned to take the company public by the end of 2008, in an effort to raise $100 million.
In September 2009, Stephan Dolezalek, managing director of VantagePoint Venture Partners, one of Tesla's investors, told a Reuters conference that a Tesla IPO was unlikely before the end of 2010.
Tesla's financial prospects have greatly improved this year. Funded initially by venture capitalists, including Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Tesla sold a minority stake earlier this year to Germany's Daimler AG and its Abu Dhabi-based partner Aabar Investments.
This fall, the company received $465 million in low-cost loans from the U.S. Department of Energy, money that is earmarked to help Tesla put its mid-priced Model S sedan into production in 2011.
Inside Line says: The investment community has mixed feelings about a possible Tesla IPO, given the roller-coaster stock-market ride of battery maker A123 since its September IPO. — Paul Lienert, Correspondent
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