ESG Linked Revolving Credit Facility

RNS Number : 7991Z

JLEN Environmental Assets Group Ltd

26 May 2021

 

26 May 2021

JLEN ENVIRONMENTAL ASSETS GROUP LIMITED

("JLEN" or the "Company")

ESG Linked Revolving Credit Facility

JLEN, the listed environmental infrastructure fund, is pleased to announce that it has signed a new three-year facilities agreement which provides for a committed multicurrency revolving credit facility ("RCF") of £170 million and an uncommitted accordion facility of up to £30 million.

The RCF provides an increased source of flexible funding, with both Sterling and Euro drawdowns available at lower rates than the existing facility. The agreement includes an uncommitted option to extend for a further year and will be used to make future acquisitions of environmental infrastructure projects to add to JLEN's current portfolio, as well as covering any working capital requirements.

The interest charged in respect of the renewed RCF is linked to the Company's ESG performance, with JLEN incurring a premium or discount to its margin and commitment fee based on performance against defined targets. Those targets include:

· Environmental: increase in the volume of clean energy produced

· Social: the value of contributions to community funds

· Governance: maintaining a low number of work-related accidents, as defined under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences ('RIDDORS') by the Health and Safety Executive

Performance against these targets will be measured annually with the cost of the RCF being amended in the following financial year. 

Lenders to the facility include three of the four existing lenders (HSBC, ING and NIBC) plus two new lenders (National Australia Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland International). The margin can vary between 195bps and 205bps over SONIA ('Sterling Overnight Index Average') for Sterling drawings and EURIBOR for Euro drawings, depending on performance against the ESG targets.

Richard Morse, Chairman, commented: "This loan facility enables us to continue to develop our investment pipeline and we're extremely proud to combine that with a set of ESG targets that underline our commitment to acting in a socially responsible, safe and environmentally sustainable manner."

For further information, please contact:

Foresight Group    [phone]

Chris Tanner

Chris Holmes

Winterflood Investment Trusts  [phone]

Neil Langford

Chris Mills

SEC Newgate    [phone]

Elisabeth Cowell

Megan Kovach

Praxis Fund Services    [phone]

Matt Falla

Gemma Woods

About JLEN

JLEN's investment policy is to invest in a diversified portfolio of Environmental Infrastructure. Environmental Infrastructure is defined by the Company as infrastructure assets, projects and asset-backed businesses that utilise natural or waste resources or support more environmentally friendly approaches to economic activity, support the transition to a low carbon economy or which mitigate the effects of climate change. Such investments will typically feature one or more of the following characteristics:

· long-term, predictable cash flows, which may be wholly or partially inflation-linked cash flows;

· long-term contracts or stable and well-proven regulatory and legal frameworks; or

· well-established technologies, and demonstrable operational performance.

JLEN's aim is to provide investors with a sustainable, progressive dividend per share, paid quarterly and to preserve the capital value of the portfolio over the long term on a real basis. The target dividend for the year to 31 March 2022 is 6.80¹ pence per share.  The dividend is payable quarterly.

 Further details of the Company can be found on its website www.jlen.com

LEI: 213800JWJN54TFBMBI68

⁽¹⁾ These are targets only and not profit forecasts.  There can be no assurance that these targets will be met or that the Company will make any distributions at all.

 

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