Equity Placing to Raise £1.495m

RNS Number : 1277J

Active Energy Group PLC

30 November 2018

 

Active Energy Group Plc / EPIC: AEG / Sector: Alternative Energy

30 November 2018

Active Energy Group Plc ('Active Energy', the 'Company' or the 'Group')

Equity Placing to Raise £1.495m

To Advance Expansion of Revolutionary CoalSwitch™ Biomass, Forestry & Related Projects

Active Energy, the London quoted international biomass based renewable energy and forestry management business, has raised £1.495m (before expenses) as detailed below:

·     Issue of 149,500,000 new ordinary shares of 1p each ('Ordinary Shares') at a price of 1p per share (the 'Placing Price' and the 'Placing Shares') from new and existing investors (the 'Placing');

·     Grant of one warrant for every 4 Placing Shares, granted at a price of 1.75p with a life of 12 months from the date of grant (the 'Warrants').  The Warrants will not be listed;

·     Michael Rowan, CEO of Active Energy and members of the senior management team have subscribed for a total of  9,500,000 Placing Shares;

·     In addition, certain creditors of the Company have resolved to receive a total of 15,500,000 Ordinary Shares in lieu of cash in consideration for services provided to the Company (the 'Consideration Shares');

·     The Company will use the net proceeds of the Placing to:

o  execute the expansion plans under the joint venture with Georgia Renewable Power LLC, through which commercial production of CoalSwitch™ from its five tonne per hour plant is expected in early 2019, as detailed in the RNS announcements dated 15 October & 19 November 2018;

o  commence planning for the commercial development of the forestry opportunities and construction and installation of the first CoalSwitch™ plant in Newfoundland detailed in the RNS announcements dated 19, 26 & 29 November 2018; and

o  provide the Group with additional working capital. 

Active EnergyChief Executive Michael Rowan said, "Recent developments have served to propel Active Energy towards near-term visible revenues and position it to advance its longer-term expansion strategy. Whilst I acknowledge now is not the optimum time for the Company to be raising funds given the turbulence in the wider market and with Active Energy's trading in recent weeks, it is key for us to quickly leverage the commercial opportunities available and move towards a cash generative position. 

"Demonstrating the Board and senior management's confidence in our investment proposition and our ability to achieve first revenue generation from our operations within months, a number of us have subscribed for Placing Shares.  The Active Energy management team is fully aligned with investors and we are committed to realising the Company's strategic objectives in order to achieving value for all shareholders.

"I am confident that our base case remains strong: we believe we have a ground-breaking technology, coupled with expandingglobal partnerships for our products and a defined path to revenue generation. I would like to thank our existing shareholders who participated in the Placing and welcome our new shareholders to the Group's register. I look forward to providing them with further updates regarding Active Energy's progress in due course."

Consideration Shares

Certain creditors of the Company have resolved to receive a total of 15,500,000 Consideration Shares. Of the Consideration Shares, 14,500,000 have been issued at the Placing Price and 1,000,000 have been issued at 2.5p per Ordinary Share.

Details of the Placing and Total Voting Rights

The Placing Shares and Consideration Shares will rank pari passu with the existing Ordinary Shares and application has been made for both the Placing Shares the Consideration Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM ('Admission'). The Placing is conditional, inter alia, on Admission, and dealings are expected to commence at 8.00am on 6 December 2018. The Placing utilises the Company's existing authorities to issue Ordinary Shares.

Following Admission, the Company's enlarged issued share capital will comprise 1,201,906,951 Ordinary Shares with voting rights. This figure may therefore be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change in their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

Details of Director and PDMR participation in the Placing

As detailed above, Michael Rowan and several members of the senior management team have subscribed for a total of 9,500,000 Placing Shares.

Following Admission of the Placing Shares the percentage holding in the total issued share capital of Active Energy of Michael Rowan and certain PDMRs will increase as per the table below:

Director/PDMR	Number of Placing Shares subscribed for	Holding following Placing and Admission	Percentage holding of Ordinary Shares Following Placing and Admission
Michael Rowan (CEO)	2,000,000	5,221,250	0.43%
Antonio Esposito (COO)	2,000,000	2,000,000	0.17%
Richard Spinks (MD, Timberlands International)	2,000,000	54,105,333	4.5%
Ron Cella (MD Utah)	2,000,000	2,000,000	0.17%
Duncan Nealey (CFO)	1,500,000	1,500,000	0.12%

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) 596/2014.

In addition, market soundings (as defined in MAR) were taken in respect of the Placing with the result that certain persons became aware of inside information (as defined in MAR), as permitted by MAR.  This inside information is set out in this Announcement.  Therefore, those persons that received inside information in a market sounding are no longer in possession of such inside information relating to the Company and its securities.

**ENDS**

For further information visit www.aegplc.com or follow on Twitter: @aegplc

Enquiries
Active Energy Group Plc	Michael Rowan Chief Executive Officer	[e-mail]
Northland Capital Partners Limited Nominated Adviser	David Hignell / Gerry Beaney/ Domile Andruskeviciute	[phone]
Optiva Securities Ltd Broker	Jeremy King / Ed McDermott	[phone]
St Brides Partners Financial PR Adviser	Susie Geliher / Gaby Jenner	[e-mail] [phone]

About Active Energy Group:

Active Energy Group Plc (AIM: AEG) is a London Stock Exchange-listed international renewable energy business based upon forestry assets.  Its model is focussed on capturing the entire forestry value chain through sourcing, utilising and commercialising assets, and setting a new standard in the sustainable management and optimisation of timber resources.

The Company is led by a highly technical and commercial team with the experience to execute its defined growth strategy and build its visibility, primarily as a London-listed timber opportunity with a revolutionary biomass fuel technology.

 

END

 

 

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