Ensurge Micropower ASA: Contemplated Private Placement
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NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO AUSTRALIA, CANADA, HONG KONG, JAPAN OR THE UNITED STATES OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH THE RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION WOULD BE UNLAWFUL. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER OF ANY OF THE SECURITIES DESCRIBED HEREIN.
Ensurge Micropower ASA ("Ensurge" or the "Company") has engaged Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ) (the “Manager”) to advise on and effect a contemplated private placement of up to 233,468,885 new ordinary shares in the Company (the "Offer Shares" and the "Private Placement"). Chairman of the Board, Terje Rogne, has undertaken to subscribe for and will be allocated Offer Shares in the Private Placement for a total amount of NOK 400,000.
The final number of Offer Shares to be issued and the subscription price per Offer Share will be determined by the Company's board of directors (the "Board") in consultation with the Manager, on the basis of an accelerated bookbuilding process. The Board has in place an authorization to issue the Offer Shares, granted by the general meeting on 10 November 2023 (the “Authorization”).
The net proceeds from the Private Placement will be used fund the Company’s operations, with focus on Go-to-Market activities and production ramp up. Over the next 6-9 months Ensurge Micropower expects significant funding from customers and technology partners to complement this equity funding.
The bookbuilding period for the Private Placement will commence on 20 February 2024 at 16:30 CET and is expected to close on 21February 2024 at 08:00 CET (the "Bookbuilding Period"). The Company, in consultation with the Manager, reserves the right to at any time and in its sole discretion resolve to close or extend the Bookbuilding Period or to cancel the Private Placement in its entirety without further notice. If the Bookbuilding Period is shortened or extended, any other dates referred to herein may be amended accordingly.
The allocation of Offer Shares will be determined at the end of the Bookbuilding Period, and the final allocation will be made at the sole discretion of the Board after consulting with the Manager. The allocation of Offer Shares will be based on criteria such as (but not limited to), timeliness of the application, relative order size, price leadership, sector knowledge, investment history, perceived investor quality and investment horizon. The Board may, at its sole discretion, reject and/or reduce any applications. There is no guarantee that any applicant will be allocated Offer Shares. Notification of allotment and payment instructions is expected to be issued to the applicants on or about 21 February 2024 through a notification to be issued by the Manager.
Settlement of the Offer Shares is expected to take place on or about 23 February 2024 on a delivery versus payment basis by delivery of existing and unencumbered shares in the Company that are already listed on Oslo Børs, pursuant to a share lending agreement entered into between the Company, Robert Keith and the Manager (the "Share Lending Agreement"). The Offer Shares issued pursuant to the Authorization will be used to settle the share borrowing from Robert Keith. The Offer Shares delivered to the subscribers will be tradable after the share capital increase relating to the Offer Shares has been registered by the Norwegian Register of Business Enterprises (the “NRBE”), expected to occur on or about 26 February 2024.
The Private Placement will be directed towards Norwegian and international investors, subject to applicable exemptions from relevant registration, filing and prospectus requirements, and subject to other applicable selling restrictions. The minimum application and allocation amount has been set to the NOK equivalent of EUR 100,000. The Company may however, at its sole discretion, allocate amounts below EUR 100,000 to the extent exemptions from the prospectus requirements in accordance with applicable regulations, including the Norwegian Securities Trading Act and ancillary regulations, are available.
The Board has considered the contemplated Private Placement in light of the equal treatment obligations under the Norwegian Securities Trading Act and Oslo Børs' Circular no. 2/2014 and deems that the proposed Private Placement would be in compliance with these requirements. The Board holds the view that it will be in the common interest of the Company and its shareholders to raise equity through a private placement, in view of the current market conditions and the growth opportunities currently available to the Company. A private placement enables the Company to raise capital in an efficient manner, and the Private Placement is structured to ensure that a market-based subscription price is achieved. In order to limit the dilutive effect of the Private Placement and to facilitate equal treatment, the Board will consider to carry out a subsequent offering directed towards shareholders who did not participate in the Private Placement (see details below).
Completion of the Private Placement is subject to (i) all necessary corporate resolutions for consummating the Private Placement being validly made by the Company, including without limitation relevant approvals and resolutions by the Board of Directors and the Company's general meeting, as applicable, and (ii) the Offer Shares having been validly issued (by registration of the share capital increase pertaining to the issuance of the Offer Shares in the NRBE) and delivered in the VPS.
The Subsequent Offering
Subject to among other things (i) completion of the Private Placement, (ii) relevant corporate resolutions including approval by the Board and an extraordinary general meeting, (iii) the prevailing market price of Ensurge's shares being higher than the Subscription Price, and (iv) registration with the NRBE or approval of a prospectus by the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority (as relevant), Ensurge will consider whether to carry out a subsequent offering (the "Subsequent Offering") of new shares in the Company. A Subsequent Offering will, if made, be directed towards existing shareholders in the Company as of 20 February 2024, as registered in Ensurge's register of shareholders with Euronext Securities Oslo, the central securities depositary in Norway (Nw. Verdipapirsentralen) (the "VPS") two trading days thereafter, who (i) were not included in the wall-crossing phase of the Private Placement, (ii) are not allocated Offer Shares in the Private Placement, and (iii) are not resident in a jurisdiction where such offering would be unlawful or would (other than Norway) require any prospectus, filing, registration or similar action (the "Eligible Shareholders"). The Eligible Shareholders are expected to be granted non-tradable allocation rights. If carried out, the subscription period in a Subsequent Offering is expected to commence shortly after registration of the Prospectus (if relevant), and the subscription price in the Subsequent Offering will be the same as the Subscription Price in the Private Placement. Ensurge will issue a separate stock exchange notice with further details on the Subsequent Offering if and when finally resolved.
About Ensurge Micropower
Ensurge is Energizing Innovation(TM) with the first ultrathin, flexible, reliable, and fundamentally safe solid-state lithium microbattery for the 1 to 100 milliampere-hour (mAh) class of wearable devices, connected sensors, and beyond. The innovative Ensurge Microbattery enables energy-dense rechargeable products that are ideal for form-factor-constrained applications including hearables (hearing aids and wireless headphones), digital and health wearables, sports and fitness devices, and IoT sensor solutions that use energy harvesting to power everyday things. The company's state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, located in the heart of Silicon Valley, combines patented process technology and materials innovation with the scale of roll-to-roll production methods to bring the advantages of Ensurge technology to established and expanding markets.
Advisors
Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ) is acting as financial advisor and bookrunner in connection with the Private Placement. Ræder Bing advokatfirma AS is acting as the Company's legal advisor. Advokatfirmaet Thommessen AS is acting as legal advisor to the Manager.
For more information, please contact:
Lars Eikeland - Chief Executive Officer
E-mail: lars.eikeland@ensurge.com
This information is considered to be inside information pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) and is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to MAR article 17 and section 5 -12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. This stock exchange release was published by Ståle Bjørnstad, VP, Corporate Development and IR, on 20 February 2024 at 16:30 CET.
Important information:
This announcement is not and does not form a part of any offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to purchase, any securities of the Company. The distribution of this announcement and other information may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions. Copies of this announcement are not being made and may not be distributed or sent into any jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful or would require registration or other measures. Persons into whose possession this announcement or such other information should come are required to inform themselves about and to observe any such restrictions.
The securities referred to in this announcement have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and accordingly may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act and in accordance with applicable U.S. state securities laws. The Company does not intend to register any part of the offering or its securities in the United States or to conduct a public offering of securities in the United States. Any sale in the United States of the securities mentioned in this announcement will be made solely to "qualified institutional buyers" as defined in Rule 144A under the Securities Act.
In any EEA Member State, this communication is only addressed to and is only directed at qualified investors in that Member State within the meaning of the EU Prospectus Regulation, i.e., only to investors who can receive the offer without an approved prospectus in such EEA Member State. The expression "EU Prospectus Regulation" means Regulation 2017/1129 as amended together with any applicable implementing measures in any Member State.
This communication is only being distributed to and is only directed at persons in the United Kingdom that are (i) investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the "Order") or (ii) high net worth entities, and other persons to whom this announcement may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as "relevant persons"). This communication must not be acted on or relied on by persons who are not relevant persons. Any investment or investment activity to which this communication relates is available only for relevant persons and will be engaged in only with relevant persons. Persons distributing this communication must satisfy themselves that it is lawful to do so.
Matters discussed in this announcement may constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and may be identified by words such as "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "strategy", "intends", "estimate", "will", "may", "continue", "should" and similar expressions. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions. Although the Company believes that these assumptions were reasonable when made, these assumptions are inherently subject to significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other important factors which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond its control.
Actual events may differ significantly from any anticipated development due to a number of factors, including without limitation, changes in investment levels and need for the Company’s services, changes in the general economic, political and market conditions in the markets in which the Company operate, the Company’s ability to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel, changes in the Company’s ability to engage in commercially acceptable acquisitions and strategic investments, and changes in laws and regulation and the potential impact of legal proceedings and actions. Such risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other important factors could cause actual events to differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in this release by such forward-looking statements. The Company does not provide any guarantees that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements in this announcement are free from errors nor does it accept any responsibility for the future accuracy of the opinions expressed in this announcement or any obligation to update or revise the statements in this announcement to reflect subsequent events. You should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements in this document.
The information, opinions and forward-looking statements contained in this announcement speak only as at its date, and are subject to change without notice. The Company does not undertake any obligation to review, update, confirm, or to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that arise in relation to the content of this announcement.
Neither the Manager nor any of its affiliates makes any representation as to the accuracy or completeness of this announcement and none of them accepts any responsibility for the contents of this announcement or any matters referred to herein.
This announcement is for information purposes only and is not to be relied upon in substitution for the exercise of independent judgment. It is not intended as investment advice and under no circumstances is it to be used or considered as an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a recommendation to buy or sell any securities in the Company. Neither the Manager nor any of its affiliates accepts any liability arising from the use of this announcement.
FAQ
What is the purpose of Ensurge Micropower ASA's private placement?
Who has undertaken to subscribe for Offer Shares in the Private Placement?
When will the bookbuilding period for the Private Placement commence and close?
What factors will the allocation of Offer Shares be based on?
Is there a guarantee that all applicants will be allocated Offer Shares?
