Late Thursday evening, Otovo, a marketplace that organizes a network of several hundred solar installers, wrote that it had completed a capital raising of NOK 450 million by issuing new shares to selected players through a so-called directed issuance.
The subscription price was NOK 3.45, slightly lower than Thursday’s closing price. However, the stock has fallen 45% since the company presented the numbers two weeks ago and announced it was “considering” a capital raise.
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On Thursday afternoon, Otovo announced that the issue had been covered, after four existing shareholders had committed to subscribe for shares.
The final award was as follows:
- Å Energi Invest acquired shares worth approximately NOK 267.8 million
- Main owner Axel Johnson Gruppen received shares worth approximately NOK 104 million
- State investment fund Nysnø Klimainvesteringer acquired shares worth approximately NOK 29.4 million
- Obos BBL acquired shares worth approximately five million Norwegian kroner
According to the plan, a reform process will be carried out, whereby other existing shareholders will be given the opportunity to subscribe for shares on the same terms.
Trust the company
Before, Å Energi owned about seven percent of Otovo, but the company has now acquired more than half of the issue, meaning that the company will have a much higher stake after the capital raising is complete.
Å Energi, created through the merger between Agder Energi and Glitre Energi, is owned by Statkraft and a number of Norwegian municipalities.
When asked by DN if he was sure that this was the correct use of community funds, Å Energi CEO Steffen Syvertsen replied:
-We believe that solar energy will be profitable and a very important part of the energy transition we are going through. Otovo has developed into a leading solar panel supplier. Given the issue price, we saw it as an attractive opportunity.
The stake has fallen by 80 percent since last February, and the market value of the shares now stands at just over half a billion dollars.
– How do you view the lack of profitability?
-We believe in the significant growth in demand for rooftop solar cells in the coming years. Solkraft is the fastest growing renewable energy sector in Europe and we therefore have confidence in the company’s ability to move forward.
Working to achieve profitability
In the third quarter, Otovo lost NOK 93 million in operations, compared to NOK 84 million in the same period a year earlier. The turnover increased from 175 million to 235 million.
Profit before tax was minus NOK 121 million, compared to NOK 79 million in the same quarter of the previous year.
The stock exchange announcement on Thursday stated that the proceeds from the issuance will be used to finance further growth. The company must also work to achieve profitability by increasing sales volume and reducing costs.(conditions)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and/or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases using links that lead directly to our pages. No copying or other use of all or part of the Content may be permitted except with written permission or as permitted by law. For more terms see here.
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