Clean Energy Brazil PLC
05 February 2008
5 February 2008
CLEAN ENERGY BRAZIL PLC
('CEB', the 'Company' or the 'Group')
Completion of US$64 million investment in Unialco MS
Clean Energy Brazil plc, a leading specialist investment company focused on
Brazil's sugar cane/ethanol industry, is pleased to announce that completion has
taken place of its investment in Unialco MS.
On 11 December 2007, the Company announced its proposed acquisition of a 33 per
cent. stake in Unialco MS and that it had conditionally raised approximately
£20.8 million before costs through a placing of 21,900,000 new Ordinary Shares
of 1 pence each (the 'Placing Shares').
All conditions precedent have been satisfied and the Board is pleased to
announce the completion of this investment which amounts to approximately
US$64 million, comprising US$37 million in cash and approximately US$27 million
by the issue of 13,863,929 Ordinary Shares as consideration (at a price of 95
pence per share) (the 'Consideration Shares') to Unialco MS. The Placing Shares
and the Consideration Shares were admitted to trading on AIM on 18 December
2007.
Unialco MS is a holding company which controls Alcoolvale (an operating sugar
cane plantation, with an associated sugar mill, ethanol distillery and sugar
factory), Canavale and Alcoolvale Agricola (two operating sugar plantations with
associated agricultural services) and Dourados (a well advanced greenfield sugar
cane plantation with a planned sugar mill, ethanol distillery and sugar factory
located in Mato Grosso do Sul state). The Directors believe that Unialco S/A,
CEB's investment partner in Unialco MS, is one of the most respected companies
in the Brazilian sugar and ethanol industry.
Further enquiries:
Clean Energy Brazil Tel: +44 (0) 7747 113 930
Antonio Monteiro de Castro a.castro@cleanenergybrazil.com
Temple Capital Partners Tel: +44 (0) 20 7972 6643
Peter Thompson p.thompson@cleanenergybrazil.com
Numis Securities Limited Tel: +44 (0) 20 7260 1000
Jag Mundi
Anthony Richardson
Smith & Williamson Corporate Finance Tel: +44 (0) 20 7131 4000
Limited (Nominated Adviser)
Azhic Basirov
David Jones
Fishburn Hedges (Financial PR Adviser) Tel: +44(0)20 7544 3133
James Benjamin Mob: +44 (0) 7747 113 930
Notes to editors
CEB is an investment company incorporated in the Isle of Man whose ordinary
shares are quoted on AIM. The Company, through its subsidiaries, invests
directly in Brazil's growing sugar and ethanol industry.
The Group has entered into contractual arrangements with its investment manager,
Temple Capital Partners Limited ('TCP'). TCP has entered into service agreements
with Czarnikow and TCP Brazil. These arrangements give the Group access to a
team of over 40 professionals, enabling it to utilise their knowledge,
relationships and understanding of the sugar cane sector in Brazil to implement
CEB's investment strategy.
Since the Company's admission to AIM and £100 million placing in December 2006,
the net proceeds of that placing have been invested in:
•Usaciga - a joint venture business in which the Group holds 49 per cent.
of the equity which has existing production and advanced stage greenfield
projects under development;
•Pantanal - a greenfield development directly under the management control
of the Group in which the Group holds 100 per cent. of the equity (subject
to a possible reduction by 8 per cent.); and
•Agua Limpa - a greenfield development directly under the management
control of the Group in which the Group holds 100 per cent. of the equity
and which requires additional development funding of approximately US$90
million.
As a result of these investments CEB currently has interests in businesses
planning to crush approximately 14 million tonnes of cane per annum by the 2012/
13 crop season.
CEB's investment in Unialco MS increases anticipated annual crushing capacity to
in excess of 18.5 million tonnes of cane by the 2012/13 crop season. It remains
the objective of CEB to increase its scale such that it has investments in
businesses with an aggregate of at least 30 million tonnes of annual cane
crushing capacity.
The Directors believe that such business growth has the potential to generate
considerable value to Shareholders given that current valuations of fully built
out assets have generally increased significantly above development costs. The
Directors believe that the increase in valuations reflects increasing demand for
industrial and agricultural assets from a range of other investors due to
growing acceptance of climate change and understanding of the unique carbon
footprint of sugar cane in producing ethanol and electricity generation.
The Directors also believe that the conflict between the growing global energy
gap and the need to reduce greenhouse gases from current energy production will
lead to the Brazilian cane sector assets moving from a valuation based primarily
on Brazilian agriculture to a valuation based more on international energy.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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