$738M cash cushion for Tesla

Electric-carmaker sells 3.1million shares at $242 each

Tesla Motors said the underwriters of its secondary stock sale exercised their option for additional shares, boosting the proceeds to an estimated $738.3 million.

The electric-car company sold 3.1 million shares at $242 each to give itself a cash cushion as it prepares to begin deliveries of its Model X sport-utility vehicle. The smallest and youngest publicly held U.S. automaker faces major capital spending as it expands globally and builds a large battery factory near Reno, Nevada.

Tesla announced plans on Aug. 13 to sell 2.1 million shares, with an underwriter option to buy as many as 315,000 more.

The next day, the Palo Alto-based company increased that to 2.69 million shares, with an option for as many as 414,239 more.

Goldman Sachs Group is buying about 1.18 million shares and Morgan Stanley is acquiring almost 962,000, Tesla said in a filing Wednesday.

The other underwriters are JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

Chief Executive Elon Musk is Tesla’s largest shareholder, with a 22 percent stake. Musk indicated preliminary interest in buying as many as 82,645 shares in the offering for a total of about $20 million, Tesla said in an Aug. 14 filing.

Tesla fell 2.1 percent to $255.25 at the close in New York. The shares have gained 15 percent this year as the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 1 percent.