Finance & Business World

Market watchers are keeping an eye on Thursday's expected initial public offering of biofuel maker Codexis Inc. to gauge Wall Street's appetite for other big cleantech IPOs coming this year.

The Redwood City company plans to raise up to $90 million in its second try at going public after its first attempt was withdrawn amidst the market turmoil of the fall of 2008.

Waiting in the wings are Fremont-based solar panel maker Solyndra Inc.'s expected $300 million IPO and Palo Alto electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc.'s $100 million offering. Emeryville biofuels company Amyris Biotechnologies Inc. said Friday that it plans to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering.

Another expected offering this year is from Redwood City-based electric grid company Silver Spring Networks Inc., but that one hasn't been filed yet.

Codexis set the terms of its IPO on March 31 at 6 million shares to sell for between $13 and $15 a share, giving it a market capitalization of up to $509 million.

The company was founded in 2002 as a subsidiary of Redwood City-based Maxygen Inc. (NASDAQ:MAXY).

In addition to biofuels, its biocatalysts can be used by pharmaceutical companies to boost manufacturing and commercialization. Its customers include Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK), Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE), Royal Dutch Shell Plc., Chevron Corp. (NYSE:CVX) and General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE).

It posted a $20 million loss in 2009 despite a 64 percent rise in revenue to $83 million.

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