Placing and conversion of loan facility

RNS Number : 9280Y

EQTEC PLC

09 March 2017

 

9 March 2017

EQTEC plc

("EQTEC" or the "Company")

Placing and conversion of loan facility

EQTEC PLC (AIM: EQT), is pleased to announce that it has raised £485,000 (before expenses) through a placing of 7,461,538 new ordinary shares of €0.001 each in the capital of the Company ("Ordinary Shares") at 6.5 pence per share ("Placing Shares") (the "Placing").

EQTEC will use the net proceeds from the Placing primarily in continuing the development of the Newry Biomass project, including advancing some of the initial work streams involved in re-powering the plant such as engineering, design and preliminary mechanical and electrical works in readiness for the financing, construction and commissioning of the project by Newry. The proceeds will also be used for continuing investment in its pipeline of projects with updates to follow as appropriate.

In addition, the Company has also agreed with its major shareholder EBIOSS Energy AD ("EBIOSS") to convert an amount of €335,717, being equal to the outstanding balance of capital plus accrued interest due under the loan facility dated 8 January 2016, which was amended on 12 December 2016 (the "Loan Facility"), into 4,491,197 new Ordinary Shares at a conversion price of 6.5 pence per share ("Conversion Shares") (the "Conversion"). Accordingly, following the Conversion, the obligation to repay the amounts drawn to date under the Loan Facility plus accrued interest will be deemed to have been satisfied in full.  A further €482,000 is still available to be drawn down under the Loan Facility.

EBIOSS currently has a 50.89 per cent. interest in the Company and therefore is deemed to be a related party of the Company under the AIM Rules for Companies ("AIM Rules"). Accordingly, the Conversion is deemed to be related party transaction pursuant to Rule 13 of the AIM Rules. The directors of the Company, having consulted with the Company's Nominated Adviser, Strand Hanson Limited, consider that the terms of the Conversion are fair and reasonable insofar as the Company's shareholders are concerned.

Pursuant to the Placing and Conversion, application has been made for the admission of 11,952,735 new Ordinary Shares to trading on AIM ("Admission"). The new Ordinary Shares, which will be issued fully paid, will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing Ordinary Shares. Admission of the new Ordinary Shares to trading on AIM is expected to occur on 16 March 2017.

As a result of the Placing and Conversion, the total number of voting rights as at 16 March 2017 will increase to 185,303,229. Shareholders should use this figure as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in the Company, under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

Following Admission, EBIOSS will be interested in 92,701,197 Ordinary Shares, equating to 50.03 per cent. of the then enlarged share capital of the Company.

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014.

For further information:

EQTEC PLC	[phone]
Gerry Madden / Brendan Halpin
Strand Hanson Limited - Nomad	[phone]
James Harris / Richard Tulloch / Ritchie Balmer
SVS Securities Plc - Broker	[phone]
Tom Curran / Ben Tadd

About EQTEC:

EQTEC PLC is committed to operating clean electricity and heat generation plants in the UK and Ireland. The Company seeks to identify, build, own and operate clean energy projects and possesses significant knowledge of energy markets, clean technologies, fuel sources, project development, project finance and project delivery. EQTEC currently has four operational clean energy plants generating revenue from the sale of electricity and heat. The generation of clean electricity and heat from sustainable sources has the potential to address the key energy challenges of energy security and carbon commitment and provide strong returns on capital employed.

The Company is quoted on AIM and trades as EQT. Further information on EQTEC can be found at www.eqtecplc.com.

 

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