Greencoat Renewables announces expansion programme – Greencoat Renewables has announced a 12-month share issuance programme of up to 400m new shares. These may be issued in a number of tranches. The proceeds will be used to pursue a growing pipeline of opportunities in continental Europe and Ireland.
Today, it has launched an initial placing at €1.11 per share. These shares will be issued through a placing by way of a non-pre-emptive issuance to institutional investors – there’s no retail offer unfortunately. Investors in this placing will be entitled to receive the dividend in respect of the quarter ended 30 September 2021.
Greencoat Renewables says that it has multiple attractive near-term investment opportunities under consideration in both wind and solar assets in Ireland and continental European markets with c.300MW under exclusivity across a mix of operating and forward sale opportunities located in Ireland, the Nordics and Spain, as well as over 350MW of other pipeline opportunities.
The plan is to maintain the company’s gearing (currently 48%) within their target range of 40-60%.
The unaudited NAV as at 30 September 2021 should be published on or around 28 October 2021, and the directors believe that it is expected to be broadly in line with the NAV as at 30 June 2021.
Shareholders need to approve this plan. An Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) will be held on 28 October 2021.
Ronan Murphy, non-executive chairman of Greencoat Renewables, said: “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. 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.”
About Greencoat Renewables
Since listing in July 2017, the company has:
- Raised €125m in December 2020 and have since invested €460m, including the company’s first acquisitions in Finland, and further consolidation of the Irish market;
- Increased net installed capacity from 137MW at the time of IPO to 686MW at 30 June 2021;
- Increased gross asset value from €332.4m at 30 September 2017 to €1,442.4m at 30 June 2021;
- Increased NAV from 98 cents per share at IPO to 101.1 cents per share at 30 June 2021;
- Delivered of dividend strategy with over 23.5 cents per share paid out since IPO, underpinned by continuous strong dividend cover;
- Secured a further €425m of medium-term group debt in the last 12 months;
- Maintained operational performance in line with management expectations, as well as continuing to identify value enhancement upsides for the portfolio.
Irish and European market background
Ireland remains an attractive location for investment in wind assets, with a reliable wind resource and robust regulatory regime underpinned by REFIT 2 and its replacement, RESS, which held its first auction in 2020. The estimated renewable capacity for onshore wind in Ireland is expected to increase from 4.5GW in 2020 to 8.2GW in 2030. At the AGM in April 2021, the investment policy was amended to allow the company to invest in operational solar photovoltaic (PV) assets in Ireland, with the estimated renewable capacity for solar PV in Ireland expected to reach 1.5GW in 2030 according to Ireland’s climate action plan.
At an EGM in September 2021, the investment policy was amended to include investment in wind and solar assets in Spain and Portugal. This followed several months of investigations into these geographies, providing assurance that significant value and diversification opportunities are available in the region.
The company continues to see strong investment opportunities across continental Europe, with an active pipeline in France, Spain the Netherlands and the Nordics through strong relationships with asset owners, developers and advisors.
Proceeds from the initial placing are expected to be used to partly pay down the revolving credit facility, which is currently drawn by €115m, provide the flexibility to execute on assets under exclusivity, provide optionality around the assets at advanced stages of negotiation, and meet obligations under committed forward sale investments, all while maintaining gearing (currently 48%) within the target range of 40-60%.
GRP : Greencoat Renewables announces expansion programme