December 5 (SeeNews) - The board of former Bulgarian synthetic fibre manufacturer Yambolen [BUL:YAMB] said that a proposed full buyout offer by local majority shareholder Enicorp would not result in significant changes in the target company's operations or headcount.
Yambolen's management finds fair Enicorp's offer to purchase the remaining 9.50% of the company's share capital it does not already own, the company said in a bourse filing on Monday.
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Last week, Enicorp submitted a proposal to acquire up to 116,144 ordinary shares in Yambolen from its other shareholders at a price of 2.00 levs ($1.10/1.02 euro) apiece, over 200% above the last stock value of 0.65 levs and slightly higher than the estimated fair value of 1.996 levs per share. The target company has a market capitalisation of 794,494 levs and its shares have not traded in the past 12 months, bourse data show.
After falling on hard times with financial losses incurred from a slump in demand, Yambolen in the past year restructured from a synthetic fibre manufacturer to solar photovoltaic (PV) park operator, with a decision to build a solar park and cover accumulated losses with revenue from the sale of electricity, according to its 2022 annual report.
At the start of July, the company commissioned the 9,998.46 kWp Yambolen solar park consisting of ground-mounted and rooftop panels on an area of 94,330 square metres near the southern town of Yambol, its most recent interim statement shows. It financed the facility's construction via loans worth a total of 7.37 million euro ($7.96 million) loan from International Asset Bank.
In its medium-term business plan to 2026, the company plans to use the renewable energy for own use and to sell to the grid, for which it has been licensed by the energy regulator. Yambolen benefits from a power substation that was built on the grounds of a former factory and is connected to the national grid. Existing infrastructure would also lend itself to the potential production of green hydrogen, according to the report.
At the end of November, Enicorp acquired a majority stake of 90.50% in Yambolen following two off-market deals with its top shareholders, Chimimport Investment and Fertiliser Inc, which owned a stake of 56.5%, and Lamara, which held 34%, Enicorp, which is active in developing energy projects, bought 1,106,155 shares in Yambolen for 0.50 levs apiece, bourse data show.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)