{"id":637303,"date":"2026-10-21T20:58:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T20:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/637303\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T20:58:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T20:58:12","slug":"solar-firm-lodestone-lists-on-nzx-in-first-major-float-in-five-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/637303\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar firm Lodestone lists on NZX in first major float in five years"},"content":{"rendered":"

Around 10,000 people have bought into solar company Lodestone Energy \u2013 which starts trading on the New Zealand sharemarket today after the country\u2019s first major public share sale in about five years.<\/p>\n

The renewable energy company raised $75 million in its initial public offering (IPO), when a company sells shares to the public for the first time. Its shares will start trading on the NZX Main Board at midday under the code LOD.<\/p>\n

Almost half the money came from everyday investors buying shares for the first time. The rest came from large investment firms, known as institutional investors, and from people who already owned part of the company.<\/p>\n

Shares were sold at $2.25 each. At that price, the whole company is worth about $440 million.<\/p>\n

Lodestone\u2019s managing director and founder Gary Holden said the support had been \u201cpretty special\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shows people believe in what we\u2019re trying to achieve, including our plan to build a solar farm in every community. We\u2019ve had strong support from people who\u2019ve been with us for years, and it\u2019s fantastic to welcome so many new shareholders on board,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Around<\/p>\n

Around 10,000 investors have bought into renewable energy company Lodestone Energy, which begins trading on the NZX today. (Source: istock.com)<\/p>\n

The company, set up in 2019, runs five solar farms around the country from Northland to Canterbury. In a year, they are expected to produce about as much electricity as more than 33,000 average New Zealand homes use. A sixth farm is being built in Hawke\u2019s Bay.<\/p>\n

Most solar developers sell their power into the wholesale market, where electricity is traded in bulk. Lodestone also sells directly to customers, including well-known businesses such as The Warehouse Group, Inghams and Briscoes. It has started selling power to homes and small businesses in Hawke\u2019s Bay and plans to expand.<\/p>\n

The money raised will go towards building more farms and finding more customers. The company wants to have 16 to 18 solar farms running by its 2032 financial year, opening two to three new farms a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Zealand is going to need a lot more electricity, and we see a real opportunity for solar to help meet that demand,\u201d Holden said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSix years on, we\u2019ve built a business that generates renewable electricity and sells it directly to customers. Now we\u2019re ready for the next stage of Lodestone\u2019s growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of the company\u2019s existing shareholders kept their shares through the float. Their shares are held under escrow, which means they cannot sell them for a set period after listing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Around 10,000 people have bought into solar company Lodestone Energy \u2013 which starts trading on the New Zealand…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[138,219,1667,111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-637303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-energy","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}