JLEN Regulatory News (JLEN)

4 December 2023

JLEN Environmental Assets Group Limited

Acquisition of remaining 30% shareholding in Bio Collectors Holdings Limited

JLEN Environmental Assets Group Limited ("JLEN" or the "Company"), the listed environmental infrastructure fund, announces the purchase of the remaining 30% shareholding in Bio Collectors Holdings Limited ("BCH") for a total consideration of £8.0 million, taking its ownership in the business to 100%.

BCH, through its subsidiary companies, holds the rights and operational assets that make up an anaerobic digestion ("AD") plant and the Bio Collectors waste collections business. JLEN acquired a 70% interest in BCH in December 2019, at which time, a mechanism was agreed for the acquisition of the remaining 30% following the expiry of an initial holding period.

The AD plant was commissioned in December 2013 and predominantly produces biomethane to be injected to the national gas grid. In addition, the plant has two Combined Heat and Power engines and is accredited under the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) and Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) schemes. The Bio Collectors waste collections business collects source-separated and packaged food waste for the AD plant from a variety of commercial, industrial and local authorities located in and around Greater London ultilising a growing fleet of biogas-powered vehicles.

The acquisition increases JLEN's exposure to an investment that is expected to deliver attractive returns for shareholders and of which it has direct operational knowledge and expertise. It also allows JLEN to consolidate its control of BCH, creating the potential for JLEN to deliver operational synergies across its portfolio of food waste AD plants.

Bio Collectors and Codford, the Company's food waste AD plant in Wiltshire, are both expected to benefit from a recent DEFRA announcement stating that separate food waste collections will be required in England for businesses by 31 March 2025 and for all households by 31 March 2026. 

Ed Warner, Chair of JLEN commented: "We are pleased with this follow-on investment which we view as value accretive to JLEN's portfolio over the long term. We view the role of food waste anaerobic digestion as strategically important in not only helping to decarbonise our energy and transport systems through the production and usage of biogas but also contributing to the diversion of waste away from landfill."

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About JLEN

JLEN's investment policy is to invest in a diversified portfolio of Environmental Infrastructure. Environmental Infrastructure is defined by the Company as infrastructure assets, projects and asset-backed businesses that utilise natural or waste resources or support more environmentally friendly approaches to economic activity, support the transition to a low carbon economy or which mitigate the effects of climate change. Such investments will typically feature one or more of the following characteristics: 

· long-term, predictable cash flows, which may be wholly or partially inflation-linked cash flows;

· long-term contracts or stable and well-proven regulatory and legal frameworks; or

· well-established technologies, and demonstrable operational performance.

JLEN's aim is to provide investors with a sustainable, progressive dividend per share, paid quarterly and to preserve the capital value of the portfolio over the long term on a real basis. The target dividend for the year to 31 March 2024 is 7.57 pence per share1. 

JLEN is an Article 9 fund under the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation and has a transparent and award winning approach to ESG.

Further details of the Company can be found on its website www.jlen.com

LEI: 213800JWJN54TFBMBI68

(1) These are targets only and not profit forecasts. There can be no assurance that these targets will be met or that the Company will make any distributions at all.