Land-based salmon farmer Atlantic Sapphire has retained Arctic Securities, BofA Securities, and DNB Markets as Joint Global Coordinators and Joint Bookrunners in connection with a private placement USD 120 million in new shares to be issued by the company after close of trading on the Oslo Stock Exchange Thursday.
The net proceeds of the private placement will be used to part-finance completion of the construction of Phase 2 of their Miami “Bluehouse” with its expected capex of USD 210 million, plus USD 15 million for certain investments that will benefit expansion beyond Phase 2, and general corporate purposes, according to an announcement from the company.
The remaining financing requirement of Phase 2 will be covered through already existing debt facilities of USD 150 million, comprised of USD 32 million committed facilities, USD 98 million uncommitted accordion facility and as of Q1 2021 an undrawn RCF of USD 20 million. The 98 million facility amount is permitted to be incurred under the facility agreement subject to certain conditions including compliance with existing financial covenants. The company may request existing and new lenders (existing lenders have first right of refusal) for this facility amount.
“As communicated by the Company, the Q1 US operational challenges are being addressed and the implemented measures are all on track with ca. half the tanks having new centre drains installed; five out of six grow-out systems having been split; the electrification of the chiller plant being on track; the drum filter area, ozone and protein skimmers fully commissioned; and Batch 2 experiencing low maturation”, the company said in an operational update.
The price in the private placement will be determined through an accelerated book-building process.
The bookbuilding period for the Private Placement opens on 3 June 2021 at 16:30 CEST and closes on 4 June 2021 at 08:00 CEST.
The managers have prior to launch “received significant interest”, and the company has increased the transaction amount from the pre-sounded amount due to significant indications of interest.
Atlantic Sapphire has had a challenging spring with a significant fall in the stock price. Thursday afternoon Atlantic Sapphire was last traded at NOK 98.60 per share.
