Greencoat to raise capital through share issuing programme

Dublin-listed wind energy investor Greencoat Renewables is looking to raise additional capital through a new share issue programme.

The proceeds will to be used in part to refinance’s Greencoat’s revolving credit facility as it looks to make further acquisitions.

Greencoat said it will issue up to 400 million new shares in a number of tranches over the next 12 months, subject to shareholder approval, with an initial placing price of €1.11 per share.

That has the potential to dilute existing holdings by more than a third. At present, Greencoat has just over 741 million shares in issue.

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The company said it has “multiple attractive near-term investment opportunities under consideration in both wind and solar assets” in both Ireland and continental Europe. It said its acquisition pipeline is “in excess of €1 billion in value accretive opportunities”.

Proceeds from the initial placing will provide the company with the flexibility “to execute on assets under exclusivity, increase optionality around the assets at advanced stages of negotiation, and meet obligations under committed forward sale investments, all while maintaining gearing (currently 48 per cent) within the target range of 40-60 per cent,” Greencoat said.

The placing price represents a discount of 2.6 per cent to the closing price on Euronext Dublin on Friday, a discount of 3.3 per cent to the London Stock Exchange close, and a discount of 5.5 per cent to the 30-day volume weighted average price of €1.1742.

"Over the past year the business has built an excellent platform for expansion into the continent, with a very strong financial position, and long-term, trusted relationships," said non-executive chairman Ronan Murphy.

“This share issuance will enable further value-accretive growth whilst maintaining leverage within the target range. We look forward to continuing to deliver our proven model across the European market.”

Shareholders will vote on the proposal at an extraordinary general meeting on October 28th, the company said. It said it expects to publish details of its net asset value as at the end of September in time for that meeting.

It said that figure was expected to be in line with the net asset value at the end of June, when it was reported at €749.1 million, or 101.1 cent per share.