Placing raises £7.0 million

RNS Number : 8229R

Gas Turbine Efficiency PLC

07 May 2009

 



7 May 2009

Gas Turbine Efficiency plc 

('GTE', the 'Company' or the 'Group') 

Placing raises £7.0 million 

Gas Turbine Efficiency plc, a leading provider of proprietary cleantech systems for enhancing the performance of industrial and aviation turbines, announces that it has conditionally raised approximately £7.0 million (approximately $10.5 million) before expenses by way of a placing of new ordinary shares of 0.2 pence each with institutional investors (the 'Placing').

The Placing 

• £7.0 million (approximately $10.5 million) conditionally raised (before expenses);

• 29,200,000 new ordinary shares of 0.2 pence each to be issued in connection with the Placing (the 'Placing Shares');

• to be issued at 24 pence per share; and

• the Placing Shares represent approximately 28.7 per cent of the enlarged share capital.

The issue of the Placing Shares is subject to shareholder approval at a general meeting. The Company is today posting a circular to shareholders containing notice of a general meeting of the Company to be held at 10.00 am on 26 May 2009 to consider and, if thought fit, pass the necessary resolutions to approve, inter alia, the Placing. Pursuant to Rule 26 of the AIM Rules for Companies, a copy of the circular will be made available on the Company's website (www.gtefficiency.com) later today. 

The Placing Shares will, if issued, rank pari passu with the existing ordinary shares and application will be made for the Placing Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM ('Admission'), which is expected to take place on 29 May 2009.

Following Admission, the Company's issued share capital will consist of 101,597,594 ordinary shares of 0.2 pence each, each having one vote. The Company does not hold any ordinary shares in treasury. Following Admission, the above figure of 101,597,594 ordinary shares may 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 to their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the Financial Service Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

Use of Proceeds

The net proceeds of the Placing will be applied to accelerating the Group's growth in four principal areas:- 

(a) Supporting physical European and Middle Eastern expansion

As announced in March 2009, the Group is expanding its Swedish facility by three-fold to meet increased demand from Pratt & Whitney as well as handling new combustion and industrial product lines. This facility is located in a new 'Green City Business Park' near Stockholm and will also provide office space for further European and Middle Eastern based sales and operational staff as the Group's international operations continue to grow.

(b) Adaptation of the Group's products for new turbine customers

The Group has already enjoyed considerable commercial success with its combustion product lines in North America, primarily for end users. Since mid-2008 the Group has been holding increasingly detailed talks with several multinational turbine service providers as well as end users to develop similar products for additional fleets of turbines in the oil, gas and utility markets in Russia and Europe and the Middle East. The commercial roll-out of products to these customers will require the Group further to fund certain development costs, to adapt existing solutions as well as fund working capital as orders are placed.

(c) Accelerating selected development programmes for specific customers

The Group's strategy had anticipated the development of certain combustion, power augmentation and controls products in 2010 and 2011. However, given the recent successes of advanced solutions in the US utility market, the Board believes that it would be in the best interests of the Group and Shareholders to bring forward these developments into 2009 and 2010. The Directors believe there is a significant opportunity to grow the Group's revenues from these products and investment now should generate revenues as early as the fourth quarter of 2009.

(d) Funding potential small acquisitions and market entry mechanisms

The Company's acquisitions of Control Center LLC in February 2007 and Ares Technology LLC in June 2007 have proved successful. The Company has identified several small teams and businesses whose activities would complement the Group's business and the Board would like sufficient financial resources to potentially align with or acquire these teams if and when the opportunities arise.

The Directors believe that the proceeds of the Placing will enable the Group to accelerate revenue growth significantly beyond current market expectations and will help consolidate the Group's position further in its chosen markets.

The Placing was conducted by GTE's joint brokers, Collins Stewart Europe Limited and Mirabaud Securities LLP.

Steven Zwolinski, CEO of GTE, commenting on the Placing, said: 

'We are very pleased that a wide range of shareholders have chosen to support this Placing. GTE has a clear growth strategy and this Placing will help accelerate our growth plans.'

For further information, please contact:

Gas Turbine Efficiency plc
Steven Zwolinski, CEO
[phone]

Collins Stewart Europe Limited

Hugh Field / Bruce Garrow

[phone]

Mirabaud Securities LLP
Peter Krens
[phone]

Financial Dynamics
Jon Simmons
Susanne Yule
[phone]

-oo-

Collins Stewart Europe Limited, which is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Services Authority, is acting as nominated adviser and joint broker to the Company and is acting for no-one else in connection with the Placing and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to clients of Collins Stewart Europe Limited nor for providing advice in connection with the Placing or any other matter referred to herein.

Mirabaud Securities LLP, which is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Services Authority, is acting as joint broker to the Company and is acting for no-one else in connection with the Placing and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to clients of Mirabaud Securities LLP nor for providing advice in connection with the Placing or any other matter referred to herein.

About GTE 

Gas Turbine Efficiency plc (GTE) designs, manufactures and supplies proprietary cleantech energy saving and performance enhancing systems to the aviation, industrial and combustion industries. GTE's extensive portfolio of patented cleantech solutions save fuel, reduce emissions, increase availability, and extend turbine and parts life. 

The Group also provides solutions for burning a wider variety and quality of primary and alternative fuels. Specific products and services developed by our world-class technology team include compressor cleaning and power augmentation systems; fuels management systems; combustion design, repair, upgrade and monitoring; and fluid and control auxiliaries. The Group's systems and associated services are provided to turbine end users and OEMs including General Electric, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls Royce, Caterpillar-Solar and Siemens from operation centres in Europe and the USA. GTE's shares are traded on London Stock Exchange's AIM (Ticker: GTE). 

 

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