A123 Upped Both Price and Shares in Final IPO, Trading Tomorrow

It was definitely a good day for battery-maker A123 Systems.

Early in the day the company raised its anticipated share price hours before the public offering and then bested itself in the offering in the afternoon. A123 eventually sold 28.1 million shares for $13.50 each to raise $380 million. Earlier, it had anticipated selling 25.7 million shares for between $10 and $11.50 each. Earlier, the stock price was between $8 and $9.50.

Trading should be interesting tomorrow. Optimists say that this could be a wellspring for future clean IPOs. Skeptics note that the company has never made money. The company mostly makes batteries for power tools but has branched into some experiments in smart grid. It will make batteries for the automotive market – for Chrysler.