WTI (Mar) $78.49 -10c, Brent (Apr) $85.14 -24c, Diff -$6.65 -14c. 

USNG (Mar) $2.38 -9c, UKNG (Mar) 126.1 -9.41p, TTF (Mar) €49.055 -€4.39

Oil price

Oil was very quiet yesterday, US retail sales for January were up which pushed the dollar better.

Diversified Energy Company

Diversified Energy Company PLC

Fundraising Post Transaction Report

In accordance with the Statement of Principles (November 2022) published by the Pre-Emption Group, Diversified Energy Company PLC (LSE: DEC), announces the following post transaction report in connection with the Company’s issue of equity securities for cash other than on a pre-emptive basis, as announced on 8 February 2023.

Name of Issuer

Diversified Energy Company plc

 

Transaction Details

The Company issued 128,444,000 new Ordinary Shares in total (126,737,763 Placing Shares, 1,706,237 Retail Offer Shares), representing 15.2% of the Company’s ordinary share capital as of 9 February 2023 and is being settled in two tranches.

 

Settlement and admission of 84,212,278 Ordinary Shares (the “Firm Shares”) (including 83,093,610 Placing Shares and 1,118,668 Retail Offer Shares), representing 9.99% of the Company’s ordinary share capital as of 9 February 2023, completed at 8.00 am on 14 February 2023. The remaining 44,231,722 shares (the “Conditional Shares”) are subject to shareholder approval at a General Meeting expected to be held on or around 27 February 2023. Upon approval of the resolutions for the allotment and issue of the Conditional Shares on a non-pre-emptive basis at the General Meeting, settlement and admission of the Conditional Shares is expected to take place at 8.00 am on 28 February 2023.

 

Use of Proceeds

The Company announced on 8 February 2023 that it had entered into a purchase agreement to acquire certain upstream assets and related infrastructure in its Central Region from Tanos Energy Holdings II LLC (“Tanos”, and such acquisition, the “Acquisition”). The Acquisition is expected to close on 1 March 2023.

 

Subject to completion, the Company will use the net proceeds from the Fundraising to partially fund the US$250million consideration (the “Acquisition Consideration”) pursuant to the Acquisition. The remainder of the Acquisition Consideration will be funded from undrawn funds available from the Company’s existing Revolving Credit Facility. The Fundraising is not conditional on the completion of the Acquisition.

 

Should the Acquisition not complete, the Company will determine the most appropriate use of the net proceeds, including potentially investing in other acquisition opportunities aligned with its stated strategy.

 

Quantum of Proceeds

Total gross proceeds from the Fundraising, amounted to US$163.0 million (approximately £134.9 million), US$156.4 million net of expenses (approximately £129.4 million net of expenses).

 

Discount

The Fundraising was completed at a price of 105 pence per share, representing a 5.2 per cent discount from the closing mid-market price on 8 February 2023.

Allocations

Soft pre-emption has been adhered to in the allocations process, where possible. Management was involved in the allocations process, which has been carried out in compliance with the MIFID II Allocation requirements. Allocations made outside of soft pre-emption were preferentially directed towards existing shareholders in excess of their pro rata, and wall-crossed accounts.

Consultation

The joint global coordinators and Bookrunners undertook a pre-launch wall-crossing process, including consultation with major shareholders, to the extent reasonably practicable and permitted by law.

Retail Investors

The Fundraising included a Retail Offer, for a total of 1,706,237 Retail Offer Shares via REX.

 

Retail investors, who participated in the Retail Offer, were able to do so at the same Issue Price as all other investors participating in the Fundraising.

 

The Retail Offer was made available only to existing shareholders of the Company in the UK, via REX through certain financial intermediaries, in keeping with the principle of soft pre-emption.

 

Capitalised terms not otherwise defined in the text of this Announcement have the meanings given in the Company’s Results of Fundraising announcement dated 9 February 2023 (RNS Number:4281P).

This is a regulation report from DEC following the recent acquisition and placing. 

Jadestone Energy

Jadestone has announced that it has closed a US$50 million debt facility with two international banks.

The closing of the Interim Facility forms part of the previously announced plan to arrange a reserves-based lending facility (“RBL”), which is a key element of Jadestone’s medium-term financing strategy to fund development capital at the Akatara project and further growth through M&A.

The Interim Facility has a term of nine months and carries an initial margin of 450 basis points over SOFR, which steps up in the event repayment occurs more than three months after closing.  The RBL workstreams are progressing in line with management expectations and it is expected to close around the end of Q1 2023, superseding the Interim Facility.

Paul Blakeley, President and CEO commented:

“We are pleased to partner with two international banks on this new interim debt facility, which will provide additional short-term financial flexibility as we work to conclude the RBL, our longer-term debt vehicle.  The RBL will provide a much larger debt capacity, and we are making good progress with several potential lenders to conclude this around the end of the first quarter this year.  As we always envisaged, the RBL will provide a secure funding source for the Akatara gas project in Indonesia, as well as significant flexibility for further growth options at a very exciting time for M&A in the region.”

So, whilst the long awaited much larger debt facility is completed, within the next few weeks or so, there is the need for an interim one for ‘short term financial flexibility’. This would cover the Aktara project and any M&A activity so maybe there is some very welcome action on that front in the pipeline…

And finally…

In the Prem tomorrow Villa welcome the Gooners, in a London derby the Eagles go to the Bees whilst Chelsea host the hapless Saints. In a bottom of the table clash the Toffees host Leeds, the Noisy Neighbours go to the Forest, Wolves and the Cherries meet and Liverpool visit the Magpies.

On Sunday the Foxes, on a high go to the Theatre of Dreams to meet the Red Devils who drew with Barcelona yesterday whilst in the fired up London derby the Hammers go to old rivals Tottenham.

Good racing at both Ascot and Haydock with Shiskin and many other stars around ahead of Cheltenham, finally good luck to Tom Scudamore who retired this week.

Wales rugby players are considering going on strike next week as England visit Cardiff, I know that it’s been a bad season for them but going on strike…

And the cricket looks quite close, the Black Caps scored 306 after England’s 325-9 and at the close this morning England were 79-2 98 runs ahead.