Ceres Power raises £20m via accelerated bookbuild

Ceres Power announced on Wednesday that its accelerated bookbuild had now closed, raising £20m before expenses by means of a conditional placing and subscription of 132,625,994 ordinary shares in aggregate, with an Issue Price of 15.08p per share, representing about 13% of its current issued share capital.

The AIM-traded firm, which develops the low-cost ‘SteelCell’ solid oxide fuel cell technology, said the issue price represented a discount of 2.7% to the mid-market closing price on 3 July.

It said the fundraising was “significantly” oversubscribed, with several material new investors participating in the placing.

The fundraising was in addition to the Weichai subscription announced on 16 May, which would - following adjustment for the issue of the fundraising shares - raise around £19.3m before expenses by means of a subscription for approximately 127,760,800 ordinary shares, representing about 12.6% of the company's current issued share capital.

Ceres said the Weichai subscription was also priced at 15.08p per share - an 18% premium to the mid-market value at the date of the announcement of that deal.

The value of the Weichai subscription had increased compared to the company's announcement on 16 May, as the number of initial Weichai shares at the issue price had been increased to reflect the conditional issue of the fundraising shares.

“The company is raising new equity in order to enable the company to continue to grow and commercialise the SteelCell,” the Ceres Power board explained in its statement.

“The board believes that the proceeds of the fundraising along with the proceeds of the overall Weichai Investment, along with the group's existing cash and cash equivalents, will provide sufficient capital to fund the group.”