NTR shareholders reach agreement on sale of wind assets

Ciarán Hancock

NTR’s three biggest shareholders have reached an agreement to sell the investment company’s wind assets in the United States to be followed by a liquidity event that will allow some investors to cash out of their positions in the group.

In a statement issued today, the board of NTR said Woodford Capital, One51 and Pageant Holdings, who own 71.5 per cent between them, have put proposals to it to "initiate a process to sell the NTR US wind assets as soon as possible and that NTR implement a tender offer" after this for its shares.

“One51 and Pageant Holdings have informed the board that it is their current intention, depending on the price per share that may be offered by NTR, to accept such a tender offer for all of their NTR shares,” the company said.

Woodford, which is controlled by NTR chairman Tom Roche and his family, has indicated to the board of the investment group that it does not intend to sell any of its shares in the tender offer.

This appears to bring to an end months of acrimony between the three shareholders about NTR’s strategy.

In the statement, the board said it was “pleased” that the shareholders had come to a “common understanding” after months of disagreement on strategy and an acrimonious recent AGM.

“The board has also reiterated that it has a process underway for the prospective disposal of US wind assets and subject to a sale of these assets being completed, it would look favourably upon a liquidity process, the format of which would be decided at the time and would be subject to necessary shareholder and regulatory approvals,” the company added.

It said the liquidity process would “further augment” the €400 million returned to shareholders over the past six years by NTR.

No timescale was given for these events to take place.

One51, which owns 23.6 per cent of NTR and is represented on the board by its chief executive Alan Walsh, and Pageant, which holds 10 per cent, have been pressing for some months for the company to sell the US wind assets to fund a tender offer that could allow them and other shareholders to cash out of their holdings in the unlisted plc.

They have also made clear to NTR that they oppose its current strategy of investing up to €50 million of equity in new wind projects in Ireland, Britain or Scandinavia.