Trony Solar latest to seek $200m US IPO

China-based thin film solar manufacturer Trony Solar has become the second solar energy firm in as many weeks to file for an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), unveiling plans on Friday for a $200m flotation.

The company filed documents formally with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, applying for it to list American Depositary Shares on the NYSE under the ticker symbol "TRO".

The filing did not list the number of shares it plans to list, nor the price range at which it expects to issue shares, but it did signal that it is aiming to raise up to $200m.

It added that underwriters for the IPO include JP Morgan Securities, Credit Suisse Securities, Oppenheimer & Co and CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets.

Trony was founded in 1993 as a manufacturer of thin film batteries before breaking into the solar market in 2006 with its thin film non-crystalline solar cell design.

The company has since secured a reported $20m from the venture capital arm of IT industry giant Intel and boasts annual manufacturing capacity of 115MW. It specialises in providing solar panels to both utility-scale solar farms and on-site building integrated solar projects.

The announcement will further fuel optimism that the clean tech IPO market is recovering fast after solar panel components provider STR Holdings announced last month that it was preparing the first US solar industry IPO for 15 months.

The Connecticut-based firm filed a prospectus with regulators detailing plans to sell 12.3 million shares at between $13 and $15, raising an estimated total of $172m.