SDCL Energy Efficiency Income (Seeit) has raised £135m via its latest placing, in a sign investor demand for renewables remains red hot despite difficult markets.
On 31 August, the £1.1bn trust said it was hoping to raise £100m by issuing new ordinary shares priced between 113p and 117p each.
But after taking into account the greater demand for the issue, the company’s pipeline and debt facilities, the board upped the size of the issue by over one third.
A total of 118.4 million new ordinary shares will be issued at a price of 114p, a 1.6% discount to the closing price on 31 August. This includes 5.1 million shares which will be issued under a retail offer.
Seeit teased a pipeline of further investment opportunities in its latest annual report, which revealed the trust’s pre-tax profits had more than doubled.
It has generated a share price total return of 9.2% in the past year, according to Trustnet, while its net asset value is up 11.4%. This is less than the average trust in the Renewable Energy Infrastructure sector, which is up 13.5%.
At a time when most IPOs and fundraisings have ground to a halt, trusts specialising in clean energy have continued to attract client cash.
Data from the Association of Investment Companies shows the Renewable Energy Infrastructure sector attracted £1.2bn in secondary fundraisings in the first six months of 2022, more than any other category.
Trust secondary fundraisings have hit £4bn so far this year, with Infrastructure (£621m) and Property – UK Commercial (£557m) also seeing decent demand.
A version of this article was first published in Portfolio Adviser
