US Solar Fund has raised USD132 million in an oversubscribed issue of Ordinary Shares.
Having originally sought to raise USD105 million, the company decided to increase the size of the Initial Issue. In consultation with the Investment Manager, the Board of Directors has agreed that it would allocate an additional cUSD7.5 million to the Heelstone refinancing, use a further cUSD8 million to repay existing drawings under the Company’s revolving credit facility, and retain the balance for working capital and subsequent investments consistent with the Company’s Investment Policy.
Accordingly a total of 132,000,000 new ordinary shares (New Shares) will be issued at the Placing Price of USD1.00 per New Share of which 122,392,978 New Shares will be issued pursuant to the Placing, 3,299,868 New Shares will be issued pursuant to the Offer for Subscription and 6,307,154 New Shares issued under the Intermediaries Offer.
Notwithstanding the increased size of the Initial Issue, applications for the New Shares exceeded the total number of shares to be issued and accordingly a scaling back exercise has been undertaken with respect to applications received pursuant to the Initial Issue. The Sterling equivalent issue price has been fixed at 72.0617 pence per New Share, based on the Relevant Sterling Exchange Rate of 1.38770.
Gill Nott, Chair of US Solar Fund, says: “We’re delighted with this strong backing from individual and institutional investors for our first fundraise following US Solar Fund’s IPO two years ago. We will put these funds to work immediately, reducing our Heelstone Portfolio financing costs along with the fund’s total gearing, and deploying into our pipeline of attractive investment opportunities. Among other benefits, these transactions will increase dividend cover and be accretive to NAV.
“With President Biden recently announcing yet more ambitious carbon reduction targets, and extending Federal subsidy support, we believe the opportunity and need to invest in utility scale solar remain compelling and urgent. We would like to thank our new and existing investors for their support and look forward to updating them on further progress shortly.”
