13th Jul 2015 10:01
LONDON (Alliance News) - Bluefield European Solar Fund Ltd Monday said it wants to raise at least EUR200 million by floating on the London Stock Exchange's Main Market.
In a statement, the solar energy investment fund, which focuses on photovoltaic assets in the Eurozone, said it will raise the funds through a placing and an offer for subscription. It will initially focus on the Italian and Spanish solar photovoltaic markets.
"The fragmented nature of these markets is ideally suited to our solar investment and asset management expertise. We expect to be able to use our specialist knowledge to quickly and efficiently consolidate a large, high yielding asset base for our shareholders," James Armstrong, a managing partner of Bluefield Partners LLP, the investment adviser to the fund, said in a statement.
"We have a high conviction that by implementing our low leverage investment strategy we have found a market opportunity that offers highly attractive valuations, defensive cashflows, dividend streams and, at circa EUR80 billion of operational assets, real scalability," Armstrong said.
The fund is targeting an internal rate of return, net of set-up costs and expenses, of between 7% and 9%, with a 6.0 euro cents annualised dividend, based on a EUR1 issue price, for the first two years. It will then seek growth of 2% per annum.
The company, which will be seeded with a target portfolio of 49MWp of fully operational, solar PV assets in Italy and Spain for an expected EUR157 million, wants to outperform its targeted internal rate of return by "the effective execution of active management strategies".
Funds and accounts under management by direct and indirect investment management subsidiaries of asset manager BlackRock Inc have committed to subscribe for 10% of the IPO. Newton Investment Management Ltd has committed to at least EUR20 million.
The fund's shares will be denominated in euros.
Goldman Sachs International is acting as global coordinator and sponsor. Goldman is also one of three bookrunners on the IPO, joined by Numis Securities Ltd and UBS Investment Bank.
Elsewhere, Maxim Resources Inc, an oil and gas exploration company headquartered in Canada listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, said it wants to join London's AIM junior market.
Maxim said it wants to become a "mid-tier junior producer" by securing projects that provide ways of generating revenue in the near-term, as well as potential step-out exploration well opportunities.
The oil and gas company said it has agreed to acquire a stake in an onshore exploration project within the Emirate of Umm al-Quwain in the United Arab Emirates. It also holds an existing oil and gas reconnaissance interest in north east Morocco.
Maxim is yet to confirm how much capital it wants to raise. Global Resources Investment Trust PLC, a London-listed investment trust that invests in the junior mining and natural resource sectors, currently owns 12.8% of Maxim. Non-Executive Chairman Arthur Brown owns an 8.1% stake, and Chief Executive Andrew Male owns a 7.7% stake.
Its shares will continue to be traded on the TSX Venture Exchange. The company expects admission to AIM to take place late in July.
Maxim's nominated adviser, responsible for regulating it on AIM, is SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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