6th Nov 2015 10:21
LONDON (Alliance News) - NextEnergy Solar Fund Ltd Friday laid out its proposals to issue around 30.9 million new shares in the company which it will repurchase and place in its treasury so it can sell in the future for a premium price.
The company intends later Friday to issue 30.9 million new shares in a placing at a price of 104.0 pence per share, and once admitted to trading on AIM, the company will immediately repurchase the shares at the same price and place them in the treasury.
"The latest issue and repurchase are being undertaken to provide the company with flexibility to raise additional capital in an efficient and cost-effective manner in due course," said the company.
NextEnergy said the issue and repurchase will not affect its net asset value per share for the shares that are currently in issue nor hit its net cash position.
The placing price of 104.0 pence is based on its net asset value per share at the end of September, which rose from 101.5 pence at the end of August.
NextEnergy shares were up 0.4% to 103.20 pence per share on Friday morning.
The 30.9 million shares are expected to be admitted from Monday, and once held in the treasury, those shares will be sold on a non pre-emptive basis to meet future market demand with the proceeds giving it further capital to take advantage of new opportunities.
NextEnergy said those 30.9 million shares will only be sold at a premium to the net asset value at the time.
However, shareholders need to approve the issue and repurchase of those shares at a general meeting to be held on November 30.
Its net asset value at the end of September rose to GBP289.0 million from the GBP243.9 million at the end of August. The increase was mainly caused by the proceeds from the placing it conducted last month.
That placing in September raised GBP38.8 million after it issued 37.6 million shares at 103.3 pence per share, which was a tiny premium compared to its closing share price of 103.0 pence on the day before that placing was announced.
In addition, NextEnergy Friday said it has substantially increased its revolving credit facility with Macquarie Bank Ltd to GBP100.0 million from GBP31.5 million, with that additional GBP68.5 million tranche expiring in May 2017.
NextEnergy said the larger facility will allow it to continue acquiring solar power plants from its pipeline of opportunities. The company has either signed letters of intent, secured an exclusivity option, or is in advanced negotiations for solar assets with a combined capacity of 250.0 megawatts.
Importantly, the company said it plans to refinance the entire GBP100.0 million revolving credit facility with further equity issuance, new debt facilities or a combination of both. NextEnergy did not state when it plans to execute the refinancing.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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