Blackstone-Backed Vivint Solar Files for IPO

Blackstone Group LP (NYSE:BX)-backed solar-energy provider Vivint Solar Inc filed with U.S. regulators on Tuesday for an initial public offering of common stock.

Blackstone bought Vivint Solar's parent, Vivint Inc, in 2012 for more than $2 billion. Vivint provides home security and solar energy services.

Reuters reported earlier this month that Vivint was working with a group of banks on a planned offering and had confidentially filed for an IPO of its solar business.

Provo, Utah based-Vivint Solar was launched in 2011 and has become the second-largest installer of residential solar panels in the United States, after SolarCity Corp.

The U.S. solar market has grown at a fast pace in recent years, helped by state and federal incentives and falling prices for solar panels.

The U.S. residential solar energy market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 28 percent, to about 1,713 megawatts of capacity in 2017, according to research firm GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).

Vivint Solar listed Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith and Credit Suisse as the lead underwriters to the offering. (http://bit.ly/VPQRvw)

The company intends to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "VSLR" and said it expects to use the proceeds from the IPO for debt repayment, investments and general corporate purposes.

The filing included a nominal fundraising target of about $200 million, but did not reveal how many shares Vivint Solar planned to sell or their expected price.

The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filings is used to calculate registration fees. The final size of the IPO could be different.

(Reporting By Neha Dimri in Bangalore; Editing by Simon Jennings)