Gore Street Energy Storage (GSF) will hold a general meeting on 7 December 2020 in lieu of a new share issuance programme, designed to capitalise on a pipeline of opportunities, which have a total project size of 1.3GW. GSF intends to significantly increase the size of its portfolio under the context of continued growth in demand for energy storage assets. A circular pertaining to the above will be published by the company shortly.
GSF is proposing to issue up to 60m new ordinary shares by way of an initial placing offer for subscription and intermediaries offer. Following the Initial Issue, GSF’s board intends to implement a placing programme to raise capital for further investment through the issue of up to 250m ordinary shares (less the number of ordinary shares issued following the initial issue).
Background to the proposed programme
GSF provided the following as background to this morning’s announcement: “The company was launched as a closed-ended investment company in May 2018 with the investment objective of providing shareholders with an attractive income over the long term by investing in a diversified portfolio of utility-scale energy projects. The company raised gross proceeds of £30.6m on first admission which were invested in an initial portfolio of four energy storage assets totalling 29MW. Since then the company has issued new ordinary shares (by way of public offer, institutional placing or direct subscriptions) to raise further gross proceeds of £51.2m for investment in accordance with the company’s investment objective and policy. As at the date of this announcement, the group’s portfolio comprised 14 projects with a total capacity of 320MW including projects under construction. Operational assets represented 110 MW of this total.
Energy storage is a market which is undergoing continued and transformative growth in the UK and globally. The fundamental growth driver is the steady increase in intermittent renewable energy capacity combined with a need for grid stability and electricity price stability. Storage projects are well-positioned to address these issues. As a result, energy storage is a key part of government energy policy, helping to deliver the low-carbon electricity sector that is the stated goal of the UK, the EU and many other countries. The growth in energy storage assets is therefore anticipated to increase in these markets as the levers that drive their growth further develop. The board, having been advised by the manager, considers that the company remains ideally positioned to capitalise on this anticipated increase in demand for energy storage assets. The company is therefore seeking to raise equity capital to acquire new projects in its pipeline and/or to fund capital expenditure requirements of investments in the Group’s existing portfolio. As at the date of this announcement, the manager has identified a pipeline of investment with a total project size of 1.3 GW.”
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GSF: Gore Street Energy Storage looks to grow to take on 1.3GW pipeline