5th Feb 2008 07:01
Clean Energy Brazil PLC05 February 2008 5 February 2008 CLEAN ENERGY BRAZIL PLC ("CEB", the "Company" or the "Group") Completion of US$64 million investment in Unialco MS Clean Energy Brazil plc, a leading specialist investment company focused onBrazil's sugar cane/ethanol industry, is pleased to announce that completion hastaken place of its investment in Unialco MS. On 11 December 2007, the Company announced its proposed acquisition of a 33 percent. stake in Unialco MS and that it had conditionally raised approximately £20.8 million before costs through a placing of 21,900,000 new Ordinary Shares of 1 pence each (the "Placing Shares"). All conditions precedent have been satisfied and the Board is pleased to announce the completion of this investment which amounts to approximately US$64 million, comprising US$37 million in cash and approximately US$27 million by the issue of 13,863,929 Ordinary Shares as consideration (at a price of 95 pence per share) (the "Consideration Shares") to Unialco MS. The Placing Shares and the Consideration Shares were admitted to trading on AIM on 18 December 2007. Unialco MS is a holding company which controls Alcoolvale (an operating sugarcane plantation, with an associated sugar mill, ethanol distillery and sugarfactory), Canavale and Alcoolvale Agricola (two operating sugar plantations withassociated agricultural services) and Dourados (a well advanced greenfield sugarcane plantation with a planned sugar mill, ethanol distillery and sugar factorylocated in Mato Grosso do Sul state). The Directors believe that Unialco S/A,CEB's investment partner in Unialco MS, is one of the most respected companiesin the Brazilian sugar and ethanol industry. Further enquiries: Clean Energy Brazil Tel: +44 (0) 7747 113 930Antonio Monteiro de Castro [email protected] Temple Capital Partners Tel: +44 (0) 20 7972 6643Peter Thompson [email protected] Numis Securities Limited Tel: +44 (0) 20 7260 1000Jag MundiAnthony Richardson Smith & Williamson Corporate Finance Tel: +44 (0) 20 7131 4000Limited (Nominated Adviser)Azhic BasirovDavid Jones Fishburn Hedges (Financial PR Adviser) Tel: +44(0)20 7544 3133James Benjamin Mob: +44 (0) 7747 113 930 Notes to editors CEB is an investment company incorporated in the Isle of Man whose ordinaryshares are quoted on AIM. The Company, through its subsidiaries, investsdirectly in Brazil's growing sugar and ethanol industry. The Group has entered into contractual arrangements with its investment manager,Temple Capital Partners Limited ("TCP"). TCP has entered into service agreementswith Czarnikow and TCP Brazil. These arrangements give the Group access to ateam of over 40 professionals, enabling it to utilise their knowledge,relationships and understanding of the sugar cane sector in Brazil to implementCEB's investment strategy. Since the Company's admission to AIM and £100 million placing in December 2006,the net proceeds of that placing have been invested in: •Usaciga - a joint venture business in which the Group holds 49 per cent. of the equity which has existing production and advanced stage greenfield projects under development; •Pantanal - a greenfield development directly under the management control of the Group in which the Group holds 100 per cent. of the equity (subject to a possible reduction by 8 per cent.); and •Agua Limpa - a greenfield development directly under the management control of the Group in which the Group holds 100 per cent. of the equity and which requires additional development funding of approximately US$90 million. As a result of these investments CEB currently has interests in businessesplanning to crush approximately 14 million tonnes of cane per annum by the 2012/13 crop season. CEB's investment in Unialco MS increases anticipated annual crushing capacity toin excess of 18.5 million tonnes of cane by the 2012/13 crop season. It remainsthe objective of CEB to increase its scale such that it has investments inbusinesses with an aggregate of at least 30 million tonnes of annual canecrushing capacity. The Directors believe that such business growth has the potential to generateconsiderable value to Shareholders given that current valuations of fully builtout assets have generally increased significantly above development costs. TheDirectors believe that the increase in valuations reflects increasing demand forindustrial and agricultural assets from a range of other investors due togrowing acceptance of climate change and understanding of the unique carbonfootprint of sugar cane in producing ethanol and electricity generation. The Directors also believe that the conflict between the growing global energygap and the need to reduce greenhouse gases from current energy production willlead to the Brazilian cane sector assets moving from a valuation based primarilyon Brazilian agriculture to a valuation based more on international energy. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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