28 January 2025
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE
INFORMATION
Riverstone Credit Opportunities
Income
Successful Sale of Harland &
Wolff
Riverstone Credit
Opportunities Income ("RCOI" or the "Company"), the LSE-listed
energy infrastructure and energy-transition credit investor,
announces that following an extensive marketing process run by
Rothschild & Co, the business and assets of the Harland &
Wolff Group, including all 4 operating yards in Belfast, Appledore,
Methil and Arnish, have been sold via a pre-pack administration to
its largest customer, Navantia UK. We are very pleased to note
that more than 1,000 jobs were secured as a result of this
sale.
The assets have been sold
for a cash consideration of £69.9m, as well as the waiving of the
debt of [£20m] by Navantia UK. Exclusivity was agreed in
October 2024, and benefited from an agreement to share pari passu
proceeds from a sale on a 50/50 basis to recover that debt funding.
As part of the transaction, those rights were waived.
Purchase price
consideration along with cash left in the business, after
administrative and deal related expenses, will result in net
proceeds of c. [£70m] to Riverstone Credit Partners ("RCP") and
affiliated funds, including RCOI. The Administrators intend on
making an initial distribution to RCP of c.[£44m] in the coming
days and have estimated future distributions that will total c.
£[26]m over the coming months.
In parallel to the
process to sell the operating yards, Rothschild & Co has also
run a process to solicit interest in acquiring Harland &
Wolff's Islandmagee Gas Storage project. Once constructed and
operational, Islandmagee salt dome caverns will have the capacity
to hold around 500 million cubic meters of low carbon gas and/or
hydrogen, increasing UK gas storage capacity by c. 33%. Given the
shortfall on amounts owed and security held over the entirety of
Harland & Wolff, RCP and affiliated funds are the equitable
owner of Islandmagee. Over the coming days and weeks, RCP will work
with its advisors to assess the optimum strategy and likely timing
to maximise the value of this highly strategic asset.
Taking into account the
proceeds from the Harland & Wolff sale, existing cash balances
and the latest estimated valuation of Islandmagee, RCOI confirms a
modest reduction on the 30 September independent valuation of its
investment of c. 4%. We will update shareholders with additional
information regarding distributions and other material developments
in the coming weeks.
The transaction was
supported by independent advisors: Teneo, who assisted with
restructuring advisory and government relations, Rothschild &
Co, Bracewell LLP, and Stephenson Harwood LLP.
For Riverstone Credit
Opportunities Income Plc:
Adam Weiss
+1 212 271 2953
J.P. Morgan Cazenove (Corporate
Broker)
|
+44
(0)20 7742 4000
|
William Simmonds
|
|
Jérémie Birnbaum
|
|
James Bouverat (Sales)
|
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Media Contacts:
Buchanan
Helen Tarbet
Henry Wilson
Verity Parker
|
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7466
5109
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7466
5111
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7466
5197
|
About Riverstone Credit Opportunities
Income Plc:
RCOI
lends to companies that build and operate the infrastructure used
to generate, transport, store and distribute both renewable and
conventional sources of energy, and companies that provide services
to that infrastructure. RCOI also lends to companies seeking to
facilitate the energy transition by decarbonizing the energy,
industrial and agricultural sectors, building sustainable
infrastructure and reducing or sequestering carbon emissions. The
Company seeks to ensure that its investments are having a positive
impact on climate change by structuring each deal as either a green
loan or a sustainability-linked loan, documented using industry
best practices.
As
previously announced, Riverstone Investment Group LLC, the SEC
registered investment advisor to RCOI, entered into a sub-advisory
agreement with Breakwall Investment Advisor LLC (an SEC registered
investment advisor), as sub-advisor, to provide investment related
services to RCOI on January 1, 2024. Breakwall Capital LP is
an independent asset manager that is owned and operated by certain
former members of the Riverstone Credit Partners team.
For
further details, see https://www.riverstonecoi.com/.
Neither the contents of RCOI's website nor the contents of any website accessible
from hyperlinks
on the websites
(or any
other website) is
incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.