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Finance & Investment This week Share transfer halts Dee Valley Water sale Shares transferred before EGM were not counted in vote – a court will decide whether they should be A pproval of Severn Trent's acquisition of Dee Valley Water has been post- poned due to confusion over the implications of a share transfer that took place in the days prior to a shareholder vote. The proposed £84 million takeover of Dee Valley Water by Severn Trent now looks set to be decided at a court hearing later this month aer doubt was cast over the validity of a vote to approve the deal. According to local media reports, confusion has arisen because in the days leading up to the vote an unidentified buyer purchased 445 Dee Valley shares and then redistributed them to a number of individuals. At an extraordinary general meeting held on 12 Janu- ary, the votes cast by the holders of these redistributed shares were not counted by the chairman. If the votes had been counted, they would have skewed the outcome, blocking the takeover deal by a margin of 103 votes. Without the excluded votes the deal was approved, with just 32 votes being cast against it. A court hearing has now been scheduled to decide whether the votes should have been acknowledged by the chairman of the EGM. Severn Trent's bid for Dee Valley Water was made on 23 November. An earlier offer by the company had valued Dee Valley Water at £78.5 million but this was topped by infrastructure investment manager Ancala, which made a rival offer 1 pence per share higher aer close on 22 November. MG, editor, WET News ENERGY Centrica exits wind Centrica has completed its exit from the wind power sector with the sale of its last remaining wind asset. The British Gas owner has agreed to sell its 50 per cent stake in the Lincs offshore wind- farm for £487 million. Siemens will also sell its 25 per cent stake, although Dong Energy will retain its 25 per cent share. The Green Investment Bank Wind Fund will purchase a 44 per cent stake for £429 million, bringing the total value of the assets it manages to £1.12 billion. The other 31 per cent will be sold to the Green Investment Bank itself for £302 million. Centrica's net proceeds from the sale will be roughly £220 million. Centrica will continue to provide operations and mainte- nance support over a 12-month transition period following the completion of the sale, aer which Dong Energy will take over operations and mainte- nance support. ELECTRICITY Lagoons promise 'cheap green power' The cost of tidal lagoon power could fall "well below all other low-carbon technologies", a feasibility study has found. A large-scale lagoon would require a lower strike price than either nuclear or offshore wind and would be even more competitive on cost over the full lifetime of the project, according to a government-commissioned review led by former energy minister Charles Hendry. Over a 120 year life-span, Hendry said, "the second half of the life of a tidal lagoon – that second 60 years – would gener- ate very low prices indeed". However, Hendry's findings were thrown into question by comments from the Energy Tech- nologies Institute, which insisted tidal stream power should be prioritised over other marine energy technologies in the UK. ENERGY Green Deal Finance Company sold The Green Deal Finance Company and its assets have been bought by Aurium Capital Markets and Greenstone Finance for an undisclosed sum. The new owners will continue to service existing Green Deal loans and will begin financing new ones by the end of March. A new management team has been assembled to run the company. The Green Deal was launched in 2013 to help improve the thermal efficiency of UK homes, effectively enabling customers to borrow money for energy effi- ciency improvements and repay it from future energy bills. Severn Trent: had been close to sealing the deal UTILITY WEEK | 20TH - 26TH JANUARY 2017 | 17 Stock watch 232 230 228 226 224 CENTRICA SHARE PRICE, FIVE DAYS 12 Jan 13 Jan 16 Jan 17 Jan 240 230 220 210 200 190 CENTRICA SHARE PRICE, THREE MONTHS Nov 2016 Dec 2016 Jan 2017 Last Friday, Centrica announced it had sold its 50 per cent interest in the 270MW Lincs offshore windfarm, its last remaining large- scale renewable generating asset, for £487 million (see above). Moody's described the move as credit positive because it will pay off debt and help the company return to its core supply business. The share price saw a bounce from 226.50p on the day of the announcement to 232.02p at the start of this week.