Meyer Burger Successfully Raises CHF 80 Million From the Private Placement of New Shares And EUR 145 Million From the Private Placement of Green Convertible Bonds
Meyer Burger Technology Ltd (SIX: MBTN, “Meyer Burger” or the “Company”) today announces that it has successfully raised CHF 80 million through the placement of 155,339,805 newly issued registered shares with a nominal value of CHF 0.05 per share (the “New Shares”), by way of an accelerated bookbuilding.
Additionally, Meyer Burger’s German subsidiary MBT Systems GmbH (the “Issuer”) successfully placed green senior unsecured guaranteed convertible bonds due 2027 in the amount of EUR 145 million (the “Bonds”).
Following the opening of its cell factory in Thalheim (city of Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany) and the module factory in Freiberg (Saxony, Germany), the proceeds from the offerings will provide Meyer Burger with additional financial flexibility to accelerate its ongoing transformation to a leading European manufacturer of solar cells and solar modules.
Meyer Burger intends to use the net proceeds from the issue of the New Shares to finance and/or refinance new investments and the net proceeds from the issue of the Bonds to finance and/or refinance new investments in Eligible Green Projects as defined by Meyer Burger’s Green Financing Framework.
Gunter Erfurt, Chief Executive Officer of Meyer Burger, commented: “With the successfully completed private placement of new shares and the green convertible bonds, which were both oversubscribed, Meyer Burger is ready to accelerate the next growth phase including the entry into the utility-scale segment.”
The Issuer and Meyer Burger have agreed to a 180-day lock-up period after the listing of the New Shares and the issuance of the Bonds, subject to waiver by the syndicate banks and customary exceptions.
Share Placement
Meyer Burger targeted to achieve gross proceeds of CHF 80 million from the placement of the New Shares, which was successfully completed. The shares were placed at CHF 0.515 per share, corresponding to a discount of approximately 4% on the Volume Weighted Average Price (“VWAP”) over the last five trading days.
As a result of the placement, 155,339,805 New Shares will be issued, which corresponds to approximately 6% of current share capital. The New Shares will be issued from existing authorized capital excluding the existing shareholders’ pre-emptive rights.
The New Shares are anticipated to be listed and admitted to trading according to the Swiss Reporting Standard on SIX Swiss Exchange on July 5, 2021. Payment and settlement is expected to take place on the same date.
Green Convertible Bonds
Meyer Burger placed Bonds with an aggregate principal amount of EUR 145 million that will be issued by the Issuer and guaranteed by the Company.
The Bonds will be issued with a denomination of EUR 100,000 per Bond at 100% of their principal amount and will carry a coupon of 3.5% (initial range from 2.75%–3.5%) per annum, payable semi-annually in arrears. Unless previously converted or repurchased and cancelled, the Bonds will be redeemed at 100% of their principal amount on July 8, 2027.
The Bonds will initially be convertible into approximately 247 million registered shares of Meyer Burger, sourced from shares to be newly issued from conditional share capital excluding the existing shareholders’ advance subscription rights.
The initial conversion price has been set at EUR 0.5868, representing a premium of 25% over the issue price of the New Shares translated into EUR using the EUR:CHF foreign exchange rate at the time of pricing.
Meyer Burger will be entitled to redeem the Bonds at their principal amount plus accrued interest in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Bonds at any time (i) on or after July 29, 2025, if the price of a Meyer Burger share is equal to or exceeds 130% of the then prevailing conversion price over a certain period or (ii) if less than 15% of the aggregate principal amount of the Bonds remain outstanding.
The settlement and payment date of the Bonds is expected to be on or around July 8, 2021. The Bonds will not be listed or admitted to trading on the SIX Swiss Exchange or any other trading venue and no application has been made to list or admit the bonds to trading. Application for the listing and trading of the Bonds may be made at a later stage.
Meyer Burger Green Financing Framework
The external review of the Framework by ISS, as second-party opinion provider, is available, together with the Framework, on the Company’s web site.
Concurrent Offering of Existing Shares by the Company
Concurrently with the offering of Bonds and New Shares and at the request of the Company, the joint bookrunners have conducted a simultaneous placement of existing shares of the Company on behalf of certain subscribers of the Bonds in order to facilitate hedging for certain subscribers of the Bonds.
These shares have been part of the placement of the New Shares. The Company will not receive any proceeds from the placement of these existing shares.
Meyer Burger Technology AG
Meyer Burger is starting production of high-performance solar cells and solar modules in 2021. Its proprietary heterojunction/SmartWire technology enables the company to set new industry standards in terms of energy yield.
With solar cells and modules developed in Switzerland and manufactured in Germany according to high sustainability standards, Meyer Burger aims to become a leading European photovoltaic company.
The company currently employs around 600 people at research facilities in Switzerland, development and manufacturing sites in Germany and sales offices in Europe, the USA and Asia.
Meyer Burger was founded in 1953 in Switzerland. As a provider of production systems, the company has shaped the development of the global photovoltaic industry along the entire value chain in recent decades and has set essential industry standards.
A large part of the solar modules produced worldwide today are based on technologies developed by Meyer Burger.
The registered shares of Meyer Burger Technology Ltd are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange.
