By Geoff Percival
Shares in wind farm operator Greencoat Renewables dipped as the company announced plans to go back to the market and tap investors for an amount expected to be more than €200m to fund upcoming acquisitions.
The company — which is backed by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), AIB, and Irish Life Investment Managers — will raise around €100m via an initial share placing, which will ultimately form part of a 12-month placement of up to 250 million shares in a number of tranches.
The initial placing will see 100m shares offered at €1.01 per share.
Greencoat — which raised €270m from a dual IPO in Dublin and London in 2017 — has, this year, added wind farms in Kerry, Leitrim, and Kilkenny to ones it already owns and operates in Cork and Tipperary.
Greencoat’s shares fell by nearly 1%, having been down by 2% earlier in the day. Explaining its share issuance move, the company said it has “a significant pipeline of opportunities” to buy onshore windfarms in Ireland and said it wishes to ensure that it is in a position to capitalise on these opportunities “as and when they become available”.
“We are very pleased with the progress made over the past 12 months, achieving the operational and strategic targets we laid out at IPO,” said chairman Rónán Murphy.
“The secondary market for operating wind assets in Ireland continues to grow apace, with an increasing number of opportunities large and small.
"We believe Greencoat Renewables is uniquely well-positioned to take advantage of this market opportunity,” he said.
