First Wind eyes IPO (Boston)

Even as it prepares an initial public offering, First Wind Holdings Inc. has been amassing more than half a billion dollars in private equity, a new regulatory filing indicates.

But the company has not yet posted a profit, and its financial strength is likely to be tested as a short-term loan worth $231.5 million approaches its June maturity date.

Nonetheless, its ability to raise private capital has proven impressive, according to an updated IPO filing posted last week. From 2007 through the end of 2009, First Wind piled up more than $668 million in equity investment from private equity firms, primarily D.E. Shaw & Co. and Madison Dearborn Capital Partners, the new document reports. Earlier this month, First Wind added a $117 million federal loan guarantee for a Hawaii wind project, backed by stimulus funds from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Read the full story in Mass High Tech.