News

Octopus Renewables Infrastructure announces placing and Rex Retail Offer

Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust (ORIT)

Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust (ORIT) has announced plans for a placing of up to 70m new ordinary shares, at a price of 105.5 pence per share, to raise gross proceeds of up to approximately £73.9 million. In addition to this placing, there will be an offer on the Peel Hunt Retail Capital Markets ‘REX’, at the same issue price, to provide UK retail investors with an opportunity to participate in the Company’s fundraising plans. ORIT says that a separate announcement will be made shortly regarding the REX Retail Offer and its terms and that, for the avoidance of doubt, the REX Retail Offer is not part of the Placing. ORIT has provided the following key highlights in its announcement:

  • The Company has fully committed the proceeds of the Company’s oversubscribed July 2021 fundraising
  • Placing and the REX Retail Offer to raise total gross proceeds of up to approximately £73.9 million
  • The Investment Manager has identified a number of Renewable Energy Assets with an aggregate value of approximately £1.5 billion which the Investment Manager considers would meet the Company’s investment policy and therefore would potentially be suitable for acquisition by the Company (“Pipeline Assets”). The Pipeline Assets are located in the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Finland(1)
  • The Investment Manager has undertaken preliminary due diligence in relation to the Pipeline Assets and has made non-binding offers in relation to the Pipeline Assets which are not held in Octopus Managed Funds. Pipeline Assets with a value of approximately £423 million are under option and/or in advanced or bilateral negotiations with an additional approximately £1.1 billion of Pipeline Assets over which Investment Manager has submitted non-binding offers(1)
  • In addition to the above assets, the Investment Manager has identified further renewable energy investments with an aggregate value of approximately £3.0 billion which would potentially be suitable for acquisition by the Company(1)
  • The maximum number of New Ordinary Shares available to be issued pursuant to the Placing and the REX Retail Offer is 70,000,000, representing approximately 14.1% of the Company’s existing issued share capital
  • The Issue Price is 105.5 pence per New Ordinary Share. This represents a premium of approximately 6.4% to the Company’s unaudited Net Asset Value per Ordinary Share as at 30 September 2021 of 99.16 pence per Ordinary Share
  • The Issue Price represents a discount of approximately 4.1% to the closing price per Ordinary Share on 18 November 2021 of 110.0 pence per Ordinary Share
  • FY 2021 dividend target of 5 pence per Ordinary Share, of which 3.75 pence has been declared or paid, with progressive dividend target thereafter(2)
  • Interim dividend in respect of the quarter ending 31 December 2021, which is expected to be 1.25 pence per Ordinary Share, is expected to be declared in February 2022 and paid in March 2022 (the “Q4 Dividend”). All holders of Ordinary Shares on relevant record date in February 2022 will be entitled to receive the Q4 Dividend(3)
  • The Placing closes at 5.00 p.m. on 2 December 2021
  • Peel Hunt LLP (“Peel Hunt”) is acting as the Company’s sole broker, bookrunner and REX Retail Offer co-ordinator

Comments from Phil Austin, Chairman of Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust

“Following full commitment of the proceeds of the capital raise earlier this year and as we approach the second anniversary of the Company’s successful IPO, we are pleased to today launch this further fundraise. Our Investment Manager has identified a strong pipeline of renewable energy projects across Europe that would be suitable acquisitions for ORIT, and as energy transition becomes even more of a focus globally, the need to capitalise on this pipeline of opportunities becomes ever more important. We thank our shareholders for their continued support to date as we look towards this fundraising to further expand and diversify ORIT’s portfolio.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Please review our cookie, privacy & data protection and terms and conditions policies and, if you accept, please select your place of residence and whether you are a private or professional investor.

You live in…

You are a…

Exit mobile version