REG - Gore Street Energy - Debt facility increased to £50m

Gore Street Energy Storage FundAnnouncement

23/06/2023 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20230623:nRSW6474Da&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 6474D  Gore Street Energy Storage Fund PLC  23 June 2023

23 June 2023

Gore Street Energy Storage Fund plc

(the "Company" or "GSF")

Debt facility increased to £50m with an accordion option of up to 30% of GAV

Gore Street Energy Storage Fund plc, the internationally diversified energy
storage fund, is pleased to announce that it has upsized its existing
revolving credit facility ("RCF") with Santander from £15m to £50m.

The Company has successfully secured £35m of incremental debt arranged and
syndicated between Santander UK and Banco Santander. Pricing for the £50m
facility remains unchanged at 300 basis points over SONIA.

If the increased RCF is fully utilised, the Company's debt would be equivalent
to c.8% of GAV.

The four-year term of the facility extends until 2027, providing the Company
with increased financial flexibility, which will be used to support the
development of the Company's construction portfolio and provides further
headroom to explore attractive pipeline opportunities. The facility includes
an accordion option to increase beyond £50m to up to 30% of Gross Asset Value
("GAV").

The Company is also separately exploring project-level financing options in
USD for its Big Rock asset in California. The asset's revenue profile is
expected to be underpinned by a long-term fixed contract, accounting for up to
40% of project revenue, making it an attractive candidate to introduce
project-level debt at competitive pricing levels.

Notwithstanding the debt headroom permitted under the Company's gearing
policy, net debt is not expected to exceed £150m, or c.21% of GAV over the
next 18 months based on funding requirements for constructing the 522 MW of
capacity targeting energisation by December 2024 and including milestone
payments for all portfolio assets with energisation targets beyond this
18-month period. The Company continues to review the build-out plan of its
construction portfolio while monitoring the current interest rate environment
and taking cognisance of yesterday's Bank of England interest rate increase of
50bps. The Company's cash balance as of 31 March 2023 was £123.7m which is
sufficient to meet all existing contractual obligations.

 

Alex O'Cinneide, CEO of Gore Street Capital, the investment manager to the
Company, commented:

"We are pleased to follow last week's NAV announcement, which showed the
strength of our international portfolio, with this positive news that we have
secured additional financing that will enable us to continue to explore
attractive opportunities and support the buildout of the Company's assets in
construction. This reinforces our existing relationship with Santander, which
has been supportive since our original facility in 2021. As reinforced
yesterday by the Bank of England's increase in the base rate, we remain
conservative in our use of debt and will maintain an appropriate gearing ratio
well within the 30% GAV limit. The additional financial flexibility will allow
us to use leverage when appropriate to drive continued success and value for
stakeholders."

 

Ioana Bozan, Director, Specialised & Project Finance, Santander UK
commented:

 ''We are delighted to continue supporting Gore Street Energy Storage Fund
plc's acquisition pipeline and enabling the transition to a low carbon future
with an upsized £50m debt facility. It has been a pleasure continuing to work
with GSF's investment management team and cementing our relationship, while
delivering bespoke, flexible funding to unlock further opportunities."

 

For further information:

 Gore Street Capital Limited
 Alex O'Cinneide / Paula Travesso                                        Tel: +44 (0) 20 3826 0290
 Shore Capital (Joint Corporate Broker)
 Anita Ghanekar / Rose Ramsden / Iain Sexton (Corporate Advisory)        Tel: +44 (0) 20 7408 4090
 Fiona Conroy (Corporate Broking)
 J.P. Morgan Cazenove (Joint Corporate Broker)
 William Simmonds / Jérémie Birnbaum (Corporate Finance)                 Tel: +44 (0) 20 3493 8000

 Buchanan (Media Enquiries)
 Charles Ryland / Henry Wilson / George Beale                            Tel: +44 (0) 20 7466 5000
                                                                         Email: gorestreet@buchanan.uk.com

Notes to Editors

About Gore Street Energy Storage Fund plc

Gore Street is London's first listed energy storage fund and seeks to provide
Shareholders with an opportunity to invest in a diversified portfolio of
utility-scale energy storage projects. In addition to growth through
exploiting its considerable pipeline, the Company aims to deliver consistent
and robust dividend yield as income distributions to its Shareholders.

 

 

 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  STRFTMATMTATBFJ