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Geysir Green Energy Acquires Majority Stake in HS Orka - Geysir Green Energy eignast meirihluta í HS Orku
Geysir Green Energy (Geysir) is pleased to announce it has acquired a 34% stake in HS Orka, a major Icelandic geothermal power producer, from the Municipality of Reykjanesbaer, thereby becoming a majority shareholder in HS Orka. In the same transaction, Geysir sold an 8.6% stake in HS Orka to Magma Energy Corp (Magma) for 2.5 billion Icelandic Kronur ("ISK") ($20 million). After both transactions, Geysir holds a 57.4% share in HS Orka.
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Geysir Green Energy (Geysir), Reykjanesbær og kanadíska jarðhitafyrirtækið Magma Energy Corporation (Magma) hafa lokið viðskiptum vegna kaupa Geysis á 34% hlut í HS Orku af Reykjanesbæ. Ennfremur kaupir Magma 8,6% hlut í HS Orku af Geysi. Með sölunni lýkur fyrri áfanga af tveimur í sölu Geysis á alls 10,8% hlutafjár í HS Orku til Magma fyrir rúma þrjá milljarða króna sem félagið staðgreiðir og mun hafa áhrif til styrkingar á gengi krónunnar.
Eftir sölu hlutarins í dag er Geysir eigandi 57,4% hlutafjár í HS Orku hf. en seinni áfangi viðskiptanna er sala á 2,2% hlut að auki til Magma í byrjun næsta árs. Að þeim viðskiptum loknum verður Geysir eigandi 55,2% hlutar í HS Orku. Kaup Magma á hlut í HS Orku koma í kjölfar samkomulags Reykjanesbæjar og Geysis um breytt eignarhald á HS Orku og HS Veitum. Með því samkomulagi eignaðist Geysir nær allan hlut Reykjanesbæjar í HS Orku en lét á móti hlut sinn í HS Veitum. Reykjanesbær á nú 66,75% hlut í HS Veitum og 0,75% hlut í HS Orku. Áður hefur Reykjanesbær keypt allar auðlindir HS Orku af félaginu og leigir því nýtingarréttinn, og tryggir þannig eignarhaldið á auðlindunum og að samfélagið njóti áfram arðs af nýtingu þeirra.
„Viðskipti þessi eru grundvöllur þess að gera HS Orku kleift að sækja sér fjármagn til fyrirhugaðra framkvæmda við uppbyggingu gufuaflsvirkjana á Suðurnesjum. Vegna veikingar íslensku krónunnar hafa erlendar skuldir HS Orku hækkað umtalsvert. Þar af leiðandi hefur eiginfjárhlutfall félagsins lækkað niður fyrir þau lágmörk sem kveðið er á um í lánasamningum félagsins. Félagið hefur nú náð samkomulagi við tvo af þremur lánadrottnum sínum og samningar við þann þriðja eru á lokastigi,“ segir Ásgeir Margeirsson, forstjóri Geysis.
Um Geysi Green Energy
Geysir Green Energy er fyrirtæki á sviði sjálfbærrar orkuvinnslu. Geysir er með sterka stöðu í vinnslu jarðvarma á Íslandi, í Þýskalandi, Kína og á Filippseyjum og stefnir að því að efla íslenska orkustarfsemi enn frekar og nýta þekkingu sína erlendis þar sem tækifæri gefast.
Helstu eignir Geysis nú, eftir sölu 8,6% hlutarins til Magma, eru 57,4% hlutur í HS Orku hf. og Jarðboranir hf. Geysir hefur einnig unnið með góðum árangri að uppbyggingu hitaveituverkefna í Kína auk jarðvarmaverkefna í Þýskalandi, Bandaríkjunum og á Filippseyjum. Enex ehf. er dótturfélag Geysis. Meðal verkefna sem Enex lauk á síðasta ári var bygging 9,3 MW jarðvarmavirkjunar í El Salvador og er virkjunin nú í fullum rekstri. Þetta er fyrsta jarðvarmavirkjunin sem er að fullu hönnuð og byggð erlendis undir stjórn íslensks fyrirtækis. Geysir er einn af stofnaðilum Keilis, menntastofnunar á háskólastigi á Suðurnesjum.
Geysir Green Energy Acquires Majority Stake in HS Orka
Geysir Green Energy (Geysir) is pleased to announce it has acquired a 34% stake in HS Orka, a major Icelandic geothermal power producer, from the Municipality of Reykjanesbaer, thereby becoming a majority shareholder in HS Orka. In the same transaction, Geysir sold an 8.6% stake in HS Orka to Magma Energy Corp (Magma) for 2.5 billion Icelandic Kronur ("ISK") ($20 million). After both transactions, Geysir holds a 57.4% share in HS Orka.
Today's transaction is the first step of two in an agreement where Magma will acquire another 2.2% share in HS Orka for ISK 625 million ($5 million) in March of 2010. Following that Geysir's share in HS Orka will be 55.2%. Geysir's sale of the stake in HS Orka to Magma is completed in connection with an agreement between the Municipality of Reykjanes and Geysir swapping shares in HS Orka and HS Veitur, the distribution company for electricity, hot and cold water. Reykjanes Municipality bought Geysir's 32% stake in HS Veitur worth ISK 4 billion, becoming a 66.75% stakeholder in HS Veitur and 0.75% in HS Orka. In turn, Reykjanes Municipality sold nearly all of its shares in HS Orka to Geysir for ISK 13 billion. Previously, the municipality had purchased land and geothermal resources from HS Orka, leasing it back to them to secure the resource's public ownership and future lease payments to the community.
“This agreement is fundamental to facilitate HS Orka acquiring the financing necessary for planned construction and development of geothermal power plants in the Sudurnes region. Due to the weakening of the Icelandic Krona, HS Orka's foreign currency debt has increased considerably. As a result, the Company's equity ratio is below the minimum required by the covenants of the loan agreements. The company has now reached an agreement with two out of three creditors and an agreement with the third is in its final stage,” says Asgeir Margeirsson, CEO of Geysir Green Energy.
Photos of HS Orka's geothermal power plants.
About Geysir Green Energy
Geysir Green Energy is a leading geothermal energy company in the renewable industry, participates in exploration, development, construction and operation of geothermal resources worldwide. Geysir is committed to the responsible harnessing of geothermal energy for power production and direct use applications.
Geysir's main assets are a majority share in the Icelandic geothermal power producer HS Orka and full ownership of geothermal drilling contractor Iceland Drilling Ltd. Geysir has worked successfully at developing geothermal heating utility projects in China and is undertaking geothermal power projects in Germany and the Philippines.
About HS Orka
HS Orka is the largest privately owned energy company in Iceland. Installed geothermal power capacity in total is 175 megawatts from the Svartsengi combined heat and power plant and Reykjanes power plant. The Svartsengi plant also generates 150 MW of thermal energy for district heating. The electrical supply is partly sold to industrial users under power purchase agreements denominated in USD. HS Orka is adding 100 MWe to existing facilities in Reykjanes, scheduled to go online by 2011 and is on track with development of additional 150 MWe in other geothermal areas.
About Magma Energy Corp.
Magma Energy Corp. is a geothermal power company which operates, develops, explores and acquires geothermal energy projects. We have an extensive portfolio of properties throughout the western United States, Iceland and Latin America, including one operating power plant in Nevada and an interest in two other operating power plants in Iceland.