Last checked at 
31 Jan 2013 10:30
HICL Infrastructure Company Limited (the "Company")
31 January 2013
Intention to undertake equity fundraising
The Board of HICL Infrastructure Company Limited is pleased to announce that it intends to proceed with a Placing, Open Offer and Offer for Subscription of Ordinary Shares (the "Issue") during the first quarter of this year.
In the Company's announcement of 17 December 2012, it was noted that the Company's ability to issue shares by way of 'tap' has been fully utilised for the time being, and that any further issue of shares on a non-pre-emptive basis would only be permitted following the requisite grant of authority by shareholders at a general meeting of the Company. The pipeline of potential new business remains healthy, and the Company's Investment Adviser is confident that further attractive investment opportunities will arise in the coming months. In light of the Group's current funding requirement of approximately £30m, and in anticipation of further investments being made, it is now the Board's intention to publish a prospectus in relation to the Issue, and to convene a general meeting for the purposes of seeking shareholder approval for the Issue.
As with previous formal equity fundraisings by the Company, the inclusion of an Open Offer will ensure that a portion of the Issue is reserved in the first instance exclusively for existing shareholders. Further details as to the precise timing and quantum of the Issue will be announced in due course. For indicative purposes, however, it is envisaged that a prospectus will be published in February, and that (subject to shareholder approval) the new Ordinary Shares will be issued and commence trading by the end of March. In terms of the size of the Issue, the Board will continue to observe the policy that the Company should not be cash positive to any material extent, and accordingly the Issue will be limited in size to the aggregate of (i) the Group's funding requirements at the time of publication of the prospectus and (ii) the consideration payable for further investments made or expected to be made by the Group (whether on a conditional or unconditional basis).
The Company has typically declared a second interim dividend in April or May of each year. In order to uphold the integrity of the cash cover on the Company's dividend, it is proposed that the record date in respect of the second interim dividend for the financial year ended 31 March 2013 should be brought forward ahead of the date of publication of the prospectus. Accordingly, subscribers for the new Ordinary Shares will not be entitled to this second interim dividend.
A further announcement giving full details of the Issue will be made at the time of publication of the prospectus.
Enquiries:
InfraRed Capital Partners Limited | 020 7484 1800 |
Tony Roper | |
Keith Pickard | |
Erwan Fournis | |
Robin Hubbard | |
David Foot | |
Canaccord Genuity Limited | |
Sales Enquiries | |
Dominic Waters | 020 7523 8473 |
Neil Brierley | 020 7523 8478 |
Will Barnett | 020 7523 8094 |
Robbie Robertson | 020 7523 8474 |
Gavin Tooke | 020 7523 8470 |
Corporate Enquiries | |
David Yovichic | 020 7523 8361 |
Lucy Lewis | 020 7523 8360 |
Tulchan Communications | 020 7353 4200 |
Ed Orlebar | |
Rebecca Scott |