In QuotedData’s morning briefing 1 August 2022:
- Harmony Energy Income (HEIT) has completed the acquisition of the first pipeline project from Harmony Energy Limited: a 99 MW / 198 MWh energy storage project known as “Bumpers”. It has also executed contracts with Tesla for the supply, construction, maintenance and optimisation of the Bumpers project, with a contracted commercial operations start date of 31 August 2023. HEIT now has six projects under construction with a total capacity of 312.5 MW / 625 MWh, with the first project, Pillswood (98 MW / 196 MWh), due to commence commercial operations in November 2022. The Bumpers project was acquired at a discount to fair market value and as such has a positive impact on HEIT’s NAV of 8 pence per share. Taking this uplift into account and the payment of the 1 pence dividend on 29 July 2022, the adjusted NAV per share is 115.90 pence based on HEIT’s last published NAV per share.
- SEED Innovations (SEED) has invested £171,000 in Clean Food Group, a UK-based cellular agriculture company focused on the commercialisation of palm oil by fermentation. The investment has been made in two parts, firstly £46,000 for 4.6 million shares was invested in a seed round in March 2022 and a further £125,000 for 1.25 million shares has now been invested in the “Friends & Family” funding round which raised a further £1.65m. Following this latest round of funding, SEED will have a holding of 5,850,000 shares representing 5.38 % of CFG’s total issued share capital, with an implied valuation of £585,000 based on the latest issue price.
- Asia Dragon (DGN) has entered a new loan facility with The Royal Bank of Scotland International, consisting of a £25m loan which was drawn in full on 29 July 2022 and fixed for two years at an all-in rate of 3.5575%; and a two year £35m multi-currency revolving credit facility which has been fully drawn in Sterling. Under the terms of the RCF, DGN also has the option to increase the level of the commitment to £50m at any time, subject to the identification of the manager’s suitable investment opportunities and the lender’s credit and pricing approval. The company’s loan facility with Scotiabank Europe has been repaid.
- HICL Infrastructure (HICL) has posted an update statement for the period from 1 April 2022 to 31 July 2022. During this time, the trust made a number of new investments totalling £300m and raised £160m via tap issuance with scale back applied due to the strong level of demand from investors. It also activated the accordion facility within its RCF, increasing its credit facilities by £330m. Higher than expected inflation rates have benefitted the portfolio, with the manager estimating that, all other things being equal, inflation will contribute an increase in NAV per share of between 3.0 and 3.6 pence to the 30 September 2022 valuation. HICL remains on track to deliver its target dividend of 8.25p per share for the financial year to 31 March 2023, with cash generation in the period in line with expectations.
- abrdn European Logistics Income (ASLI) has completed on the acquisition of two logistics properties, in Bordeaux and Niort, in France, for a combined €23m – reflecting a net initial yield of 4.0%. Both properties are leased to Dachser France, an international provider of transport and logistics solutions, on leases which provide annual indexation. Both sites also offer medium-term asset management opportunities in the form of extensions/development due to low site coverage. The Bordeaux urban logistics asset totals 6,504 sqm and sits on a total plot size of 29,000 sqm (22% site cover). It is located 8km from the centre of Bordeaux, one of France’s most populated cities, and has a WAULT of 9.5 years. The Niort property totals 3,939 sqm, on 44,000 sqm of land (9% site cover) and is located 10km from the centre of Niort. The company expects to complete on the purchase of a third freehold building in France in the third quarter of this year, it said.
- ASLI also announced that it has secured a debt facility against phases 1 to 3 of its Spanish Madrid portfolio. A three year term has been agreed with ING Bank at an all-in interest rate of 2.57%. The group’s LTV rises to 30% (using the 31 March 2022 portfolio valuation).
- Balanced Commercial Property Trust (BCPT) has posted a NAV total return of 4.0% for the quarter ended 30 June 2022 (year to date NAV total return is now 11.7%). This follows a 3.2% increase in the unaudited NAV over the quarter to 148.6 pence per share. The valuation of the group’s portfolio rose 2.3% in the quarter to £1.3bn. The company also announced a 6.7% increase in its monthly dividend to 0.40 pence per share with effect from May 2022.
- Boussard and Gavaudan’s board looks to be changing dramatically following last Friday’s EGM. Nathalie Esposito and Erich Bonnet have been appointed as non-executive directors with immediate effect. Bruce James and Julia Goh have both resigned effective 29 August, 2022, and Andrew Howat has resigned as a non-executive director and will not be standing for re-election at the forthcoming annual general meeting, which is expected to be convened to be held on Thursday, 22 September, 2022. [It looks to us as though the board will not have a majority of independent non-executive directors – which would make it uninvestable in our view.]
We also have new investments from Foresight Sustainable Forestry and JLEN Environmental Assets.