Gresham House Energy Storage acquires new projects and announces placing to take on more – Gresham House Energy Storage (GRID), has signed contracts for the acquisition of a further 425MW of projects from Gresham House Devco (the ‘current pipeline’) of which 275MW are proceeding into construction with commissioning targeted for Q1 2022 and the remaining 150MW will be built subject to funding and other conditions. Today’s acquisition fully commits the equity funds raised in November 2020.
GRID has also expanded its exclusive pipeline by a further 427MW with an intention to build this subsequent pipeline by the end of Q1 2023, subject to funding and other conditions, with most projects being commissioned by the end of 2022. This gives significant visibility on the potential expansion of the trust to over 1.2GW of operational assets.
In order to allow GRID to build on its market share and significantly increase the size of its portfolio to take advantage of the compelling market opportunity for battery energy storage system projects, the company today announces a proposed placing to raise approximately £100m through an issue of new ordinary shares in the capital of the company at a price of 112.0p per share. This issue price represents a discount of 7.25% to the closing share price of 120.75 pence on 30 June 2021 and a premium of 5.0% to the last reported NAV of 106.66 pence as at 31 March 2021.
The net proceeds are intended to finance the remaining two projects comprising the current pipeline totalling 150MW and 90MW from the subsequent pipeline.
Meanwhile, GRID has a dividend target of 7p per share for the financial year to 31 December 2021, to be paid quarterly, which represents a dividend yield of 6.25% at the issue price. Investors in the placing will be entitled to the dividend for the quarter-ending 30 September 2021.
Statement from the chairman:
“Battery storage is a strategic imperative for the UK to unlock its world-leading carbon reduction targets. GRID has the market-leading project origination, construction and operational experience to deliver a substantial part of the country’s zero-carbon power infrastructure. The prospect of building lower-cost projects over the next 18 months is very exciting in terms of the value this is expected to unlock for our shareholders.”
Statement from the manager:
“We recently set out ambitious plans to significantly increase the size of our portfolio over the next two years, given the UK’s need to increase battery storage capacity tenfold by the middle of this decade. Our increasing economies of scale, streamlined processes and systematic approach to deploying more battery storage capacity means we can increase our rate of deployment while reducing build costs. This growth will allow us to be significantly more competitive in delivering crucial flexible infrastructure for the UK’s electricity market, positioning us well for the long term.”
GRID : Gresham House Energy Storage acquires new projects and announces placing to take on more