A123 looking to get lucky filing IPO price range?

Watertown, Mass.-based A123Systems came forward with some news today that had cleantech investors excited.

Jamie Kiggen, senior managing director and chief investment officer of cleantech ventures with the Blackstone Group, said today during an investor panel at the Cleantech Group’s Cleantech Forum XXIII in Boston that A123 filed a price range last night and plans to start its road show next week.

“If the IPO window opens up, that helps all of us,” he said.

A123, which makes advanced lithium-ion batteries and battery systems for the transportation, electric grid and portable power markets, said last year it planned to raise up to $175 million in an IPO (see A123 Systems going public). But at the time, the company didn’t outline the terms of the offering. The company made the announcement on 8/8/08, because its co-founder is Chinese, and according to Chinese culture, the number eight is considered to be linked to fortune and prosperity. 

The company said today in a regulatory filing that it's planning to offer 25.68 million shares of common stock, priced somewhere between $8.50 and $9.50 per share. A123 is expected to have an initial market capitalization of about $954 million, should it price at the upper end of its range.

Despite the news going out last night, the regulatory filing is also not likely to be a coincidence, given today's date, 9/9/09. In Chinese culture, the number nine is considered to be lucky and is a homophone of the word for long-lasting, as well as being associated with power in Chinese numerology.

Senior management officials are also planning to offer another 680,501 shares of A123Systems’ common stock, valued between $5.4 million and $6.5 million.

A123 has raised more than $300 million in venture capital funding from firms including North Bridge Venture Partners, General Electric, Qualcomm, Motorola, Procter & Gamble, Alliance Capital, Sequoia Capital, CMEA Capital, and FA Technology Ventures, as well as DOE funding (see Johnson Controls scores $299M from DOE for auto batteries).

Kiggen declined to comment about today’s news, and said he’s no longer involved with the company.

A123’s stock is expected to trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "AONE.”

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