Corre Energy, the storage developer for renewable energy, said on Tuesday it has started a share sale to existing investors to give them a chance to avoid their stakes being diluted by a placing of €2.12 million of stock with founders and a long-term shareholder.
The cash call has been designed to tide the company over as it continues talks to third parties interested in making a significant “strategic investment” in a business that was down to just €1.08 million of cash at the end of last year.
Corre said that the amount that will be raised from top-up share sale on Tuesday – being carried out by accelerated bookbuild by Davy – would be decided once all bids for new stock from eligible shareholders are in.
The shares are being offered at 46 cents, in line with the placing last week with founders and the unnamed long-term investor. The company’s founding shareholders include former director Darren Patrick Green, who stepped down in February, chief executive Keith McGrane and businessman Brendan Boyd.
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[ Corre raises €2.1m of short-term cash from founders and long-term investorOpens in new window ]
Shares in the company have fallen by more than 85 per cent over the past 12 months. This has been partly down to a slump across the wider green energy sector amid a decline in energy prices and the weight of higher interest rates on this capital-intensive sector.
However, according to observers, it is also down to concerns about Corre having failed to sufficiently spell out the financial details of its various projects to allow investors assess their potential for profit.
Corre’s most advanced development is its Zuidwending (ZW1) project in the province of Groningen in the Netherlands. ZW1 will be capable of supplying up to 320MW of electricity to the grid and is due to come on stream around the end of 2026.
Other key projects include Corre’s 320MW Green Hydrogen Hub project in Denmark, another facility in the Netherlands (ZW2) and a plan to develop three compressed air energy storage plants in caverns secured last year in Germany.
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