04.11.2021
NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN, HONG KONG, SOUTH AFRICA OR THE UNITED STATES OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH THE RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION WOULD BE UNLAWFUL. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER OF ANY OF THE SECURITIES DESCRIBED HEREIN.
Reference is made to the stock exchange announcement made by Aker Horizons ASA (the “Company”) on 4 November 2021 regarding the contemplated private placement (the “Private Placement”) in the Company.
The Private Placement has been successfully placed and will raise gross proceeds of approximately NOK 1.0 billion through the issue of 28,985,507 new ordinary shares in the Company (the “Offer Shares”), each at a subscription price of NOK 34.50 per share.
The Private Placement attracted strong interest from high quality international and Nordic institutional investors and was multiple times oversubscribed.
Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited (“Baillie Gifford”), a leading institutional investor that manages GBP 352bn of assets for their global client base across equity, fixed income, and multi-asset portfolios, was allocated 13.5 million Offer Shares in the Private Placement.
The net proceeds from the Private Placement will be used to strengthen Aker Horizons’ balance sheet ahead of investments in portfolio companies, including further development of Mainstream Renewable Power and other new direct investments, to establish green value chains for power-intensive industries. The net proceeds will also be used for general corporate purposes.
The share capital increase pertaining to the Private Placement was resolved by the Board of Directors of the Company (the “Board”) on 4 November 2021 pursuant to an authorization granted by the Company’s extraordinary general meeting held on 27 January 2021. Notification of allotment of the Offer Shares, including settlement instructions, will be sent to the applicants through a notification from the Managers on 5 November 2021.
In order to facilitate timely delivery of shares to subscribers in the Private Placement, delivery of the new shares allocated in the Private Placement will be made by delivery of existing and unencumbered shares in the Company already listed on Oslo Børs, pursuant to a share lending agreement entered into between the Company, Carnegie AS (on behalf of the Managers) and Aker Capital AS. The Managers will settle the share loan with new shares in the Company to be issued shortly after payment has been received for the Offer Shares.
Following issuance of the Offer Shares, the Company will have an issued share capital of NOK 609,736,165 divided into 609,736,165 shares, each with a par value of NOK 1.00.
As a consequence of the Private Placement structure, the shareholders’ preferential rights were deviated from. The Board has considered the structure of the contemplated offering of new shares in light of the equal treatment obligations under the Norwegian Public Limited Companies Act, the Norwegian Securities Trading Act and the rules on equal treatment under Oslo Rule Book II for companies listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange and the Oslo Stock Exchange’s Guidelines on the rule of equal treatment. The Company is of the view that is in the common interest of the Company and its shareholders to raise equity through a private placement. By structuring the equity raise as a private placement, the Company has been in a position to raise equity efficiently, with a lower discount to the current trading price, at a lower cost and with a significantly lower risk compared to a rights issue. In the assessment it has also been taken into consideration that the Private Placement has been structured as a publicly announced accelerated bookbuilding process. On this basis, and based on an assessment of the current equity markets, the Board has considered the Private Placement to be in the common interest of the Company and its shareholders, and that it will not be required to implement a subsequent offering.
Carnegie AS, DNB Markets, a part of DNB Bank ASA and Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc act as joint managers and bookrunners in connection with the Private Placement (jointly, the “Managers”). Advokatfirmaet BAHR AS is acting as legal advisor to the Company and Advokatfirmaet Thommessen AS is acting as legal advisor to the Managers in the Private Placement.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
The information contained in this announcement is for background purposes only and does not purport to be full or complete. No reliance may be placed for any purpose on the information contained in this announcement or its accuracy, fairness or completeness. None of the Managers or any of their respective affiliates or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, advisors or agents accepts any responsibility or liability whatsoever for, or makes any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the truth, accuracy or completeness of the information in this announcement (or whether any information has been omitted from the announcement) or any other information relating to the Company, its subsidiaries or associated companies, whether written, oral or in a visual or electronic form, and howsoever transmitted or made available, or for any loss howsoever arising from any use of this announcement or its contents or otherwise arising in connection therewith. This announcement has been prepared by and is the sole responsibility of the Company.
Neither this announcement nor the information contained herein is for publication, distribution or release, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, in or into or from the United States (including its territories and possessions, any State of the United States and the District of Columbia), Australia, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, South Africa or any other jurisdiction where to do so would constitute a violation of the relevant laws of such jurisdiction. The publication, distribution or release of this announcement may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions and persons into whose possession any document or other information referred to herein should inform themselves about and observe any such restriction. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.
The securities referred to in this announcement have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “U.S. Securities Act”), and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to U.S. persons (as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act) absent registration or an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and in accordance with applicable U.S. state securities laws. The Company do not intend to register any securities referred to herein in the United States or to conduct a public offering of securities in the United States.
Any offering of the securities referred to in this announcement will be made by means of a set of subscription materials provided to potential investors. Investors should not subscribe for any securities referred to in this announcement except on the basis of information contained in the aforementioned subscription material.
In any EEA Member State, this communication is only addressed to and is only directed at qualified investors in that Member State within the meaning of the EU Prospectus Regulation, i.e., only to investors who can receive the offer without an approved prospectus in such EEA Member State. The expression “EU Prospectus Regulation” means Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 (together with any applicable implementing measures in any Member State).
This communication is only being distributed to and is only directed at persons in the United Kingdom that are Qualified Investors and that are (i) investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the “Order”) or (ii) high net worth entities, and other persons to whom this announcement may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as “relevant persons”). This communication must not be acted on or relied on by persons who are not relevant persons. Any investment or investment activity to which this communication relates is available only to relevant persons and will be engaged in only with relevant persons. Persons distributing this communication must satisfy themselves that it is lawful to do so.
This announcement is made by, and is the responsibility of, the Company. The Managers and their affiliates are acting exclusively for the Company and no-one else in connection with the Private Placement. They will not regard any other person as their respective clients in relation to the Private Placement and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company, for providing the protections afforded to their respective clients, nor for providing advice in relation to the Private Placement, the contents of this announcement or any transaction, arrangement or other matter referred to herein.
In connection with the Private Placement, the Managers and any of their affiliates, acting as investors for their own accounts, may subscribe for or purchase shares and in that capacity may retain, purchase, sell, offer to sell or otherwise deal for their own accounts in such shares and other securities of the Company or related investments in connection with the Private Placement or otherwise. Accordingly, references in any subscription materials to the shares being issued, offered, subscribed, acquired, placed or otherwise dealt in should be read as including any issue or offer to, or subscription, acquisition, placing or dealing by, such Managers and any of their affiliates acting as investors for their own accounts. The Managers do not intend to disclose the extent of any such investment or transactions otherwise than in accordance with any legal or regulatory obligations to do so.
Matters discussed in this announcement may constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and may be identified by words such as “believe”, “aims”, “expect”, “anticipate”, “intends”, “estimate”, “will”, “may”, “continue”, “should” and similar expressions. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions. Although the Company believes that these assumptions were reasonable when made, these assumptions are inherently subject to significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties, contingencies, and other important factors which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond its control. Such risks, uncertainties, contingencies, and other important factors could cause actual events to differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in this release by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made and cannot be relied upon as a guide to future performance. The Company, each of the Managers and their respective affiliates expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to update, review or revise any forward-looking statement contained in this announcement whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. The information, opinions and forward-looking statements contained in this announcement speak only as at its date and are subject to change without notice.
This information is considered to be inside information pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation, and is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
This stock exchange announcement was published by Mathias Reierth, Communications Manager, Aker Horizons ASA, on 4 November 2021 at 23:08 (CET).