Tesla Motors increases electric car IPO size by 20%

Tesla Motors Inc., the electric sports-car company that's attempting the first initial public offering by a U.S. automaker in a half-century, increased the size of its IPO by 20 percent.

The maker of the $109,000 electric Roadster bought by Brad Pitt and George Clooney will now offer 13.3 million shares at $14 to $16 each, up from an earlier plan to sell 11.1 million, a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed. Existing shareholders including Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk will offer 1.42 million instead of 1.1 million.

Tesla, which has lost money every year since its founding in 2003, is seeking to raise as much as $213 million to pay for factories and possible acquisitions, according to the Palo Alto, California-based company's filings with the SEC. The IPO scheduled for today will be the first by an American car company since Ford Motor Co. went public in 1956.

"If the market is giving them the message that they're willing to give them a little more cash, then it's a prudent thing to take more cash," said Philippe de Weck, who manages $700 million in clean-energy investments in Geneva at Pictet & Cie. "This company is going to be not making a profit for a few years, therefore it would need more cash to get it through."

Tesla spokesman Ricardo Reyes declined to comment on the increase in the share offering.

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Musk, who has staked his personal fortune to Tesla after making almost $300 million selling PayPal Inc. and Zip2 Corp., is counting on investors to fund a startup that expects to lose more money in the next two years as it tries to build a battery- powered sedan.