HYR.L Regulatory News (HYR)

12 Oct 2007 07:00

Ludgate Environmental Fund Limited12 October 2007 Ludgate Environmental Fund Limited ("Ludgate Environmental" or the "Fund") Investment of £3 million in Hydrodec Group plc ("Hydrodec" or the "Company") The Board of Ludgate Environmental Fund Limited is pleased to announce its firstinvestment following the Fund's launch in August 2007. The Fund hasconditionally committed to invest £3mn in Unsecured Convertible Loan Notes to beissued by Hydrodec Group plc, an AIM-quoted company providing advanced oil andprocess technology, products and services to industry. This investment willrepresent approximately 11.2% of the Fund's net assets. Hydrodec specialises in environmentally sustainable, small carbon footprintchemical processing and high performance oil refining, in a closed loop,de-minimal emission process. Hydrodec's principal focus is on the market fortransformer oil, used by electrical utilities in the power generation industry.Hydrodec's technology re-refines used and contaminated transformer oil to createvery high quality new transformer oil meeting all necessary industry standards.The Company currently operates a commercial scale plant in New South Wales,Australia. Ludgate Environmental's investment is part of a £13.8 million UnsecuredConvertible Loan Note ("Loan Notes") placing (the "Placing"). The Loan Noteswill be convertible to Ordinary Shares in Hydrodec at 19p per share. Theproceeds of this Placing will be used by Hydrodec to expand into the US marketand complete the construction of a first plant in Ohio and a second plant inMississippi. The Placing, and the Fund's investment, are conditional, inter alia, on thepassing of resolutions to increase Hydrodec's authority to allot relevantsecurities and to disapply pre-emption rights in respect of certain allotments,including the Placing, at an Extraordinary General Meeting expected to be heldon 5 November 2007. The Loan Notes will pay interest semi-annually in arrears at a rate of 8% p.a.with the first payment being for the period from the issue of the Loan Notes to31st December 2007. The Loan Notes, which will not be listed, are convertibleinto approximately 72.63 million new ordinary shares of the Company. This wouldrepresent 27.3% of Hydrodec's enlarged issued share capital assuming that allthe Loan Notes are converted. The Conversion price of 19p per share representsa premium of 13.4% to the closing mid-market price of 16.75p per ordinary shareon 5 October 2007. Hydrodec will have the right to redeem the Notes at any timefrom 1st November 2012 to 31st October 2014. For as long as not less than £3 million of the principal amount of the Notes isoutstanding, the Noteholders will have the right by extraordinary resolution tonominate a person to be appointed as a director of Hydrodec. Any personnominated pursuant to this power must be approved by the Board and NumisSecurities Ltd, as Hydrodec's nominated adviser. Any such appointee will berequired to put himself forward for re-election by Shareholders at the annualgeneral meeting following his appointment. Hydrodec has undertaken to apply for Admission of the ordinary shares to beissued on conversion of the Loan Notes to trading on AIM. Assuming theconversion of all of the Loan Notes (and assuming no other ordinary shares havebeen issued in the meantime), the total number of ordinary shares in issue willthen be 266,476,980. The new ordinary shares will rank pari passu in allrespects with the existing Hydrodec ordinary shares in issue. About Ludgate Environmental Fund Limited: Ludgate Environmental Fund Limited is a Jersey domiciled closed-ended investmentcompany, listed on AIM. The Fund was launched in August 2007, raising £26.7million at listing. The Environmental/Cleantech sector is characterised by products and serviceswhich optimise the use of natural resources while reducing environmental impactin ways that enhance economic value. Opportunities include: energy efficiencyand alternative energy sources including renewable energy; water treatment andmanagement; waste management and resource recovery; industrial process advances;and emission reduction technologies. Ludgate Environmental was launched to enable investors to participate in adiverse portfolio of investment holdings in Environmental/Cleantech companies.Ludgate Environmental believes that there are a number of key drivers of growth,both in terms of business and investment activities, within this sectorincluding: • increasing demand for, and decreasing supply of, natural resources; • rising concern over the economic costs of waste accumulation and pollution; • growing awareness of environmental issues amongst the public; and • environmental technology advances in recent years. The Fund's Investment Adviser, Ludgate Investments Limited, has significantexperience and a successful track record of investing in and helping to buildcompanies within this sector. Website: www.ludgateenvironmental.com Media Enquiries: David Hopkins, PR Director Carbon International david.hopkins@carboninternational.com +44 (0)20 7586 8096 Samantha Hill, PR Manager Carbon International samantha.hill@carboninternational.com +44 (0)20 7586 2780 Ludgate Environmental Fund Enquiries: Nick Pople, Fund Manager Ludgate Environmental nickpople@ludgate.com +44 (0)20 7621 5770 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange