29th Apr 2015 08:07
LONDON (Alliance News) - Atlantis Resources Ltd Wednesday said it has reached an agreement to buy Bristol-based tidal business Marine Current Turbines Ltd in an all-share deal with Germany's Siemens AG, which will lead to the Atlantis having "one of the largest portfolios of tidal current power projects in the UK".
Atlantis will acquire all of Marine Current Turbines from Siemens by issuing Atlantis shares to Siemens that will give the German multinational conglomerate a 9.99% stake in Atlantis. No other details regarding the transaction were disclosed.
Atlantis Resource has a market capitalisation of GBP26.0 million, giving the transaction a value of about GBP2.6 million. Atlantis Resources shares were up 3.7% to 28.00 pence per share on Wednesday morning following the announcement.
Atlantis said the deal will see the company acquire a "world class, iconic British tidal turbine business" which has "extensive" seabed rights and intellectual property alongside existing projects. The deal also consolidates the two companies tidal technologies and creates "one of the largest portfolios of tidal current power projects in the UK", it said.
"We are delighted to be acquiring this leading British tidal power company from Siemens which firmly positions Atlantis as a leader in UK tidal power and globally. Marine Current Turbines has developed a world leading tidal turbine, a world class engineering team, unrivalled expertise in long-term turbine operations and testing through its SeaGen installation at Strangford Lough and an impressive portfolio of projects under development across the UK," said Atlantis Chief Executive Tim Cornelius.
By acquiring the company, Atlantis inherit a portfolio of six projects spread across Wales, Northern Ireland and southern England and potential project development capacity of 200 megawatts, augmenting existing capacity to nearly 600 megawatts of project pipeline. Atlantis will also have a larger project development portfolio in Scotland.
"The Marine Current Turbine projects will increase the Atlantis tidal power project development portfolio to almost 600 megawatts of potential installed capacity in the UK alone, providing a strong platform for growth and an important step in the Company's strategy of building a worldwide portfolio of development sites and a world leader in tidal stream generation," Atlantis said.
Atlantis acquire a 1.2 megawatt surface-piercing tidal SeaGen system, a utility scale electricity generating tidal stream project that has been operating in Northern Ireland for five years, making around 10 gigawatt hours of electricity to sell to the grid. Atlantis said this project was the first of its kind in the world.
In terms of intellectual property, Atlantis said it will gain property related to Marine Current Turbine's next generation 1 megawatt fully submerged SeaGen turbine and the 1 megawatt SeaGen system designed for floating deployment applications.
"The SeaGen system will open up new project development locations and opportunities for Atlantis, widening the total potential addressable market," said Atlantis.
Marine Current Turbines is debt free and posted a post-tax loss of GBP7.3 million for the year ended September 30, 2014. However, Atlantis said the loss was mainly attributable to a GBP6.8 million cost on research and development. As the technology enters its commercialisation phase, research and development expenditure is expected to reduce markedly, the company said.
Atlantis said that Marine Current Turbine's working capital requirements will be financed by a loan package from Scottish energy services contractor Global Energy Group at an interest rate of 4.5% per annum and due for repayment in May 2018. No other details were released.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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