Nordex to raise €212 million from rights issue as short-term headwinds bite

The company said it “aims to strengthen its capital structure by increasing its equity ratio in the current volatile environment for the wind industry”.

The German turbine manufacturer said the increased cash position will safeguard against risks from the short-term headwinds affecting the industry and further improve positioning with its customers.

The company intends to use the net cash proceeds from the Rights Offer for general corporate purposes as cash requirements arise in its business, it added.

A total of 35,923,089 new ordinary bearer shares will be issued at a subscription price of €5.90 per share, resulting in gross cash proceeds of approximately €212 million, it said. The share capital of the company will therefore be increased from €176,023,138 to €211,946,227, equalling approximately 20.4% of the current share capital.

All shareholders of Nordex are entitled to acquire – against cash contributions – 10 new shares at the subscription price for every 49 existing shares held.

The subscription share price is significantly down on the reported closing price of €8.90 for Nordex shares last Friday. It’s also down on the €8.70 per share paid a few weeks ago by Spain’s Acciona – the major shareholder in Nordex – when it boosted the German firm’s capital by €139.2 million by increasing its stake from 33.6% to 39.66%.

For the upcoming rights issue, Acciona has agreed to exercise its subscription rights for its current shareholding, Nordex said. Shares for which subscription rights have not been exercised in the subscription offer are fully underwritten by a syndicate of banks.

The Rights Issue is subject to the approval of the prospectus by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). The subscription period will start on 13 July and end on 26 July. The new shares will be entitled to full dividend rights from 1 January 2022.

Nordex has been struggling recently, downgrading its outlook for 2022 when it published its first quarter results and warning of an overall loss for the year. Last week, however, it reported a 20% rise in second quarter onshore turbine orders, reversing the 6% fall in sales seen in the first quarter. Recent orders have come from Brazil and Poland.