Lodestone Energy switched on its Kaitāia solar farm Kohirā in February 2024, the same month it also raised $55m to develop further solar farms. It has just announced another $50m raised. Photo: Supplied/ Lodestone Energy
- Lodestone Energy says initial public offering "certainly in our mind"
- The company has not made a decision, and is not ready yet
- Lodestone has just completed a $50 million capital raise
Fast-growing solar power company Lodestone Energy says a public listing could be on the cards in the future, but it is not ready yet.
Lodestone has just completed a $50 million capital raise backed by existing shareholders, adding it to the $50m it raised last year for future solar farms.
Lodestone had three solar farms generating electricity and a fourth one due to come online, as well as numerous sites across the North and South Islands currently in planning stages or under construction.
Managing director Gary Holden said the idea of a new generator-retailer or gentailer that used "new technology" should be appealing, but it had some way to go.
"We certainly haven't made a decision to IPO (initial public offering) the company, and we're quite a way off needing to make that decision," he said.
"But it certainly is in our mind, and you never know in the future it could be the perfect outcome for us."
Holden said it was a question he faced regularly.
He said Lodestone would soon announce details about a solar project near Christchurch.
Holden said the company had been in talks with overseas investors for its most recent capital raise, but received support from existing investors.
"We continue to maintain a good relationship with those folks," Holden said. "But we decided at the end of the day for speed of execution and [to keep] shareholders more in control for a little longer, we would just go to our existing group of shareholders."
On future expansion, Holden said Lodestone was committed to New Zealand, which he saw as a "huge market" despite its low population.
"It's considered a small country in global terms but in electrical terms we think there's probably $5 billion of investment coming into electricity."
He said demand from electric vehicles and the high cost of thermal generation would drive investment in renewables, particularly solar.
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