Nextracker, a leading manufacturer of trackers for utility-scale solar projects, is the latest clean energy firm to take the step into publicly-traded markets.
The Flex Ltd. subsidiary has filed an application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering of shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. The company intends to be listed under the ticker symbol NXT.
J.P. Morgan, BofA Securities, Citigroup, and Barclays are acting as joint lead book-running managers for the proposed offering. Truist Securities, HSBC, BNP PARIBAS, Mizuho, Scotiabank, and KeyBanc Capital Markets are acting as joint book-running managers for the proposed offering. SMBC Nikko, BTIG, UniCredit, and Roth Capital Partners will act as co-managers for the proposed offering.
A press release from Flex dated Jan. 13 did not specify how Nextracker intends to use the funds secured by the IPO.
Nextracker has spent the past year expanding its manufacturing footprint with a focus on domestic supply chains.
Even as tariffs and supply chain constraints threatened the solar industry's growth, Nextracker embarked on scaling 10 GW of U.S. manufacturing capacity. The company opened four new facilities in the U.S. in 2021.
Nextracker CEO Dan Shugar joined the Factor This! podcast last July to discuss the growing importance of "Made in America" solar, even for a company with a global manufacturing and distribution footprint.
"Leadership is not going with the herd," Shugar said. He said a number of companies were "hunkering down" and waiting until things stabilized.
"We decided that we are going to move forward. We are going to invest in the States. We're going to source U.S. steel. We're going to get lower-carbon steel. And we're going to hit high on-time delivery metrics. Full stop," Shugar said.
New analysis of global solar supply chains from the International Energy Agency determined that world leaders must intervene to diversify the entire manufacturing lifecycle — from raw material processing to panel assembly.
China controls 80% of key manufacturing stages for solar modules, according to the report, while the country's share of polysilicon and wafer supply could reach 95% in the coming years.
The Inflation Reduction Act provides incentives for domestic manufacturing throughout the solar value chain, including for tracking equipment.
