PNE Wind prepares for Yieldco move with share, bond sale

Sep 11, 2014 - German wind projects developer PNE Wind AG (ETR:PNE3) seeks to raise up to EUR 80.3 million (USD 103.8m) from the sale of shares and bonds so it could support its plan to create a Yieldco unit with a 150-MW initial portfolio.

The company said on Thursday it plans to implement an EUR-22.8-million capital hike through the issue of up to 22.8 million new non-par value registered shares. The purchase price for each new share is set at EUR 2.40. Separately, it will also issue convertible bonds of up to EUR 25.575 million bearing an interest of 3.75 % and mature in 2019.

The subscription period for both transactions kicks off on September 15 and will run until September 29, 2014.

PNE intends to use the proceeds to fund its equity share in certain onshore wind projects, mainly in Germany. The goal of the company is to set up a subsidiary which would hold about 150 MW of commissioned wind farms and then sell all or most of the shares in the said unit to investors by the end of 2016.

“In the UK and the US, we see that investors are actively supporting companies (named Yieldcos) which are capable of paying steady dividends from operational renewable energy assets,” said board chairman Martin Billhardt. According to him, the company “has reached the necessary size to participate successfully in this business model”.

During the first six months of 2014, the group started building some 128 MW of wind projects in Germany.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.295)

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