In QuotedData’s morning briefing 2 August 2024:

• Riverstone Credit Opportunities Income (RCOI) has provided an update on its investment in a loan to Harland & Wolff Group Holdings Plc following an announcement by that company. Alongside other credit funds managed by Riverstone, RCOI is co-invested in a US$115m loan to Harland &Wolff, of which RCOI’s contribution is US$14.6m. In August 2024, credit funds managed by Riverstone provided a additional US$25m capital investment in what RCOI refers to as a “super priority facility”. This brings the total commitments by Riverstone credit funds to Harland & Wolff to US$140m. RCOI says that a condition to injecting the new capital is that a US$15m increase to the existing facility, which completed in February 2024 (and in which RCOI did not participate as it has entered managed wind down and had already reached its concentration limit with Harland & Wolff), was recharacterised as part of the new super priority facility. The super priority facility accrues interest at SOFR plus 900 bps (100% paid-in-kind), which is the same interest rate as the existing facility, and is subject to a 25% repayment premium. In addition, the existing facility repayment premium was amended to 30%. RCOI says that the new financing is part of a larger effort to stabilise the liquidity of Harland & Wolff and help facilitate a long-term capital solution. Harland & Wolff has formally engaged Rothschild & Co as financial adviser to assess its strategic options and has instituted changes to senior management and the board of directors. RCOI’s board says that it is working to expedite the return of cash as soon as practicable given the ongoing uncertainty and, in the meantime, its cash balances are invested in a money market and are yielding a healthy risk-free return. RCOI’s board is evaluating the appropriate level of dividend to pay for the second quarter and will provide further information in due course.
• Partners Group Private Equity (PEY/PEYS) has provided an update. Its NAV increased by 1.3% in June to €14.38 per share (total net assets of €994.45m) through a combination of positive value creation (1.1%) and currency movements (0.7%), bringing the NAV total return for the six months ended 30 June 2024 to 4.1%. The fund received distributions in June of €75.1m of which €70.2m stemmed from the sale of SRS Distribution, which was sold to The Home Depot at an enterprise valuation of US$18.25bn in June 2024. Founded in 2008 and based in the US, SRS is one of the largest distributors of roofing, landscaping, and pool supply products. It has grown via acquisitions and greenfield branch openings, while same-store sales growth benefitted from an expanding US property market and rising roof replacement demand. The company also expanded into several new distribution segments, including landscaping and swimming pools. The remaining balance of €4.9m largely came from KinderCare Education, while €0.9m stemmed from the sale of a portion of the shares in AAVAS Financiers, an India-based housing finance company providing housing loans and related financing to low- and middle-income borrowers in semi-urban and rural areas, through an open market sale on the National Stock Exchange of India. At portfolio level, International Schools Partnership (ISP) was among the largest value drivers. It is progressing well on its expansion plan and anticipates significant M&A activity in the near term. ISP has also enjoyed continued organic growth and aims to scale the platform further, developing a unique selling proposition by augmenting education with artificial intelligence (AI) enabled technology. The fund’s revolving credit facility has been fully repaid and it has cash and cash equivalents at 30 June 2024 of €24.6m.
• Home REIT (HOME) has announced further sales from its portfolio totaling 226 properties for £26.5m. The sales price achieved from the public auctions was at an 8.1% discount to the August 2023 valuations. The company has now sold 914 properties since August 2023, with a further 287 exchanged for sale, for a total of £163.1m. The proceeds have been used to pay down its debt. The company announced last month a proposed managed wind down after failing to agree a refinancing of its debt.
• Triple Point Social Housing REIT (SOHO) announced that its investment grade credit rating had been reaffirmed by Fitch Ratings. The company’s long-term Issuer Default Rating remains ‘A-‘ and a senior secured rating of ‘A’ is maintained for the group’s existing loan notes. The outlook has been revised from stable to negative to reflect prolonged rent arrears from two registered providers, and the risk that the independent review of the investment management arrangements could result in a change of investment manager. Fitch noted that the rent arrears have not been detrimental to the group’s credit metrics, and that they intend to resolve the negative outlook upon resolution of these arrears (which may include the completion of a transfer of leases to another provider), as well as the outcome of the group’s independent review of the investment management arrangements.
• Aquila European Renewables (AERS) has declared a second interim dividend for the quarter ended 30 June 2024 of 1.4475 euro cents per share, of which 0.8315 euro cents will be designated as an interest distribution. The dividend will be paid on 6 September 2024 to shareholders who appear on the register on 16 August 2024, with an ex-dividend date of 15 August 2024. AERS’s NAV total return for the quarter ended 30 June 2024 was -3.6%. Key drivers of the NAV movement were: 1) a sharp decrease in Guarantees of Origin (GoOs) as a result of lower demand due to lower industrial activity in the short term (AERS says that long-term GoO price forecasts have also declined reflecting expectations of lower demand as European countries approach a fully decarbonised grid, which had an impact of -5.8 euro cents per share); and 2) in Iberia, short to medium term power price forecasts have increased in response to higher commodity prices. Nordic power price forecasts have also increased in the short-term, whilst longer-term power price forecasts have slightly declined because of the higher build-out of renewables and decreasing power export. The net impact of these movements is +2.2 euro cents per share.

We also have:

• HgCapital’s investment in CTAIMA and e-coordina