Fundraising

TRIG proposes 300m share offer

Shareholders will vote next month on whether to issue 300 million ordinary and C shares to fund future investments in an active market.

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The Renewable Infrastructure Group (TRIG), backed by InfraRed Capital Partners, has submitted a proposal to shareholders for the issuance of 300 million ordinary and C shares.

TRIG’s board said a broad pipeline of potential onshore wind and solar investments and the flexibility to access capital quickly made it the right time to launch a share issuance.

“With the backdrop of a continued flow of renewables projects from their developer-owners to new long-term owners, as well as a substantial flow of new developments underway across most of the company’s markets […] the board has concluded that it is now appropriate to put in a place a new share issuance program,” the statement said.

The issuance will begin in early May and shareholders will decide whether to approve the proposal in a meeting on 4 May, which will be issued at premium to net asset value for ordinary shares and £1 per C share. C shares are convertible to ordinary shares on certain conditions.

The renewable investor said it will issue the shares in tranches and, along with future investments, will use the proceeds to pay down a £150 million revolving debt facility with the Royal Bank of Scotland and the National Bank of Australia. The facility was £43.7 million drawn on 13 April.

TRIG used the facility last June when it spent £246 million, a combination of debt and equity, to buy six Scottish wind farms. The next month, it raised £128 million through a placement on the London Stock Exchange. In November 2015, it issued another 78 million shares.

The group launched in 2013 when it first offered 300 million ordinary shares on the London Stock Exchange. The capital raised in its initial public offering allowed it to buy 18 onshore wind and solar assets in the UK, France and Ireland. It now owns 24 onshore wind and 27 solar assets generating a combined 680MW.

TRIG is not the only UK renewable investor raising capital through a share issuance this week. Greencoat UK Wind also plans to offer 300 million shares to payoff debt and purchase new assets.