Ascent Solar completes public offering

Ascent Solar completes public offering of common stock and private placement

• On 5:57 pm EDT, Tuesday October 6, 2009

THORNTON, Colo. (AP) -- Ascent Solar Technologies Inc. on Tuesday said it had closed a previously announced public offering of 4.6 million common shares and a private placement of common stock to its largest shareholder, both at a price of $6.50 a share.

The solar cell maker said the private placement of 769,000 shares was with Norsk Hydro Produksjon AS.

Ascent Solar said it plans to use its net proceeds of roughly $32.9 million for expansion of its production capacity and general corporate purposes.

Shares of Ascent rose 16 cents to close at $6.43 Tuesday, but lost 7 cents to $6.36 in after-hours trading following the announcement of the offering and placement.