Gore Street Energy Storage fund proposes £75m capital raise to acquire ‘pipeline’ of investments – EQ Mag Pro
Clarifies gearing change.
The fund will issue 68,181,818 new ordinary shares at a price of 110 pence per share, by way of an initial placing, initial offer for subscription and initial intermediaries offer, with the option for the initial issue to be “upscaled”, subject to demand and the discretion of the board.
The issue price represents a discount of approximately 5.98% to the closing share price of 117 pence per ordinary share on 21 March 2022, the day before the fund announced its plans to issue new shares, and a premium of approximately 5.87% to the last reported NAV of 103.9 pence per share as at 31 December 2021.
The investment manager of Gore Street Energy Storage fund has identified a pipeline of investments with a total project size of more than 1.3 GW in the UK and internationally, having recently made the fund’s first investments in Germany and Texas.
Alex O’Cinneide, CEO of Gore Street Capital, the company’s investment manager, said: “As predicted since Gore Street’s IPO in 2018, the demand for energy storage has continued to grow exponentially in the UK, Ireland and internationally. The importance of energy security and the need to rapidly de-carbonise global economies is more important than ever before.
“Reflecting these trends, we are screening and executing ever larger transactions and have now built a portfolio with an aggregated capacity of over 700 MW.”
Investors in the initial issue are expected to benefit from “an attractive level of dividend income” and prospects for capital appreciation.
“The proposed fundraise would enable us to execute on our ambitions for growth with the potential for investment in new acquisitions, while continuing our solid track record of capital discipline for the benefit of our shareholders,” O’Cinneide added.
In addition to releasing details of the share issuance, the company issued a clarification of its recently updated gearing policy.
In a circular to shareholders published on 22 March, it stated that following a review of the company’s gearing policy “to ensure that it is appropriate in light of the energy storage market’s maturity and to allow for the ability to utilise debt, where appropriate and subject to the prior approval of the board, to expand the size and scale of operations, support the development of an expanding portfolio, and ultimately to seek to enhance profitability”, the maximum aggregate borrowings will increase from 15% to 50% of gross asset value.
However, in a clarification, it said that “the board’s gearing policy will firmly limit borrowings to no more than 30% of gross assets at any time” and that if, in the future, “the directors’ views on this policy were to change, they will revert to shareholders for further approval”.
Gore Street Energy Storage fund has raised more than £330m to date, since its launch in May 2018.
Source: investmentweek
