ITM Power raises GBP 250m to boost electrolyser manufacturing

UK energy storage and clean fuel company ITM Power Plc (LON:ITM) said on Friday that it has secured some GBP 250 million (USD 342.8m/EUR 295.4m), which it intends to use to scale up its electrolyser manufacturing capacity to 5 GW by 2024.

The company closed an oversubscribed placing of about 57.5 million new shares via an accelerated bookbuild at a price of GBP 4.0 apiece. As part of the transaction, minority shareholder Linde Plc (NYSE:LIN) and certain ITM senior executives subscribed for an additional five million new units.

The total size of the transaction, which is subject to shareholder approval, equated to an existing stake of 11.4%. The price represented a discount of 15.75% to ITM's close on Thursday, prior to the announcement of the capital raising, bourse data shows.

ITM's Sheffield-based electrolyser factory Bessemer Park, said to be the world’s largest, officially opened in August. The company now plans to deploy GBP 170 million of capex and GBP 40 million of working capital for the development and full automation of a second UK Gigafactory, as well as a new international facility, along with funding the semi-automation of Bessemer Park.

The UK company will also inject GBP 50 million into green hydrogen technology development in partnership with Linde, aiming to halve electrolyser manufacturing costs within five years.

Following a spike in demand for large-scale green hydrogen projects supported by national strategies, ITM said it has a tender opportunity pipeline and a contracted backlog of 1,011 MW and 310 MW of electrolysers respectively as at end-September.

Shares in ITM, which has a market capitalisation of GBP 2.6 billion, slid 8.3% to GBP 4.35 as at 0940 BST.

(GBP 1 = USD 1.371/EUR 1.182)

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