Seal Beach-based Clean Energy Fuels Inc., backed by legendary oilman T. Boone Pickens, has upped the size of its pending public offering to $345 million from $287.5 million, according to an updated federal filing.
The offering stands to be one of the larger ones for Orange County in recent years.
Clean Energy, which provides natural gas for buses and other fleet vehicles, plans to hold an “OpenIPO” where the price and allocation of shares will be set in an auction done by the underwriters and other securities dealers.
WR Hambrecht & Co. and Simmons & Co. are the underwriters.
The number of shares to be offered, a price range or timetable weren’t disclosed in last week’s filing.
Clean Energy said it wants to use the proceeds to build a liquefied natural gas plant, add natural gas fueling stations, buy natural gas vehicles for sale to customers, as well as for general business purposes.
Pickens is Clean Energy’s principal shareholder, founder and a director. He owns about 73% of the company.
He founded Clean Energy as a tiny part of Dallas-based Mesa Petroleum in the late 1980s. He split it off in the late 1990s.
Clean Energy’s day-to-day operations are run by chief executive and cofounder Andrew Littlefair.
Pickens, who gained notoriety in the 1980s as a corporate raider, has invested about $50 million in the company in recent years and has extended it a $100 million line of credit.
Last year, Clean Energy had sales of $91 million and had an operating loss of nearly $9 million. It’s been profitable in prior years.
,Michael Lyster
