The transaction, which Corre Energy PLC says was notified to the plc on August 15, is one of a complex set of dealings involving founding shareholder Corre Energy Group Holdings C.V. that were announced to the stock market this morning.
Shares in Corre Energy PLC fell on the news but trading was then disrupted by a so called ‘collars breach’, an automated pause to trading activity that kicks in if the difference between bids and offers for a share are unusually wide. This is designed to prevent so called ‘fat finger’ events which happens when human errors sends a share price off kilter.
The shares were already down nearly 50pc in the past month and more than 90pc below their high.
In an announcement to the market on Monday, Corre Energy plc said it was was notified by Corre Energy Group Holdings C.V. that it has agreed to the transfer of 15,000,000 shares in the capital of the company (19.3pc total issued share capital) to Stream Street Limited for full and final settlement of a loan entered into by Corre Energy Group Holdings C.V.
Corre Energy, which is headquartered in the Netherlands, focuses on the development, construction and commercialisation of what are described as long duration energy storage projects.
The announcement was part of a wider update on filings made by the parent company Corre Energy Group Holdings C.V. at the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets. Corre Energy is listed in Ireland but headquartered in the Netherlands.
The recent filings are linked to pledges made by Corre Energy Holdings C.V. related to shares in the listed company.
In the update by the PLC to the market, the company reported that these shares were used as security for three loans from three separate lenders. It is understood that these loans were taken out in recent quarters.
Corre Energy noted that the three lenders have “certain controls over such shares (including in certain circumstances to dispose of some or all of the pledged shares) during the term of the respective loan agreements.”
It is understood that the majority of the funds raised were used for reinvestment in the business.
Pledges have been granted on around 15.4pc of its total issued share capital, Corre Energy said.
This represented 23.6pc of Corre Energy Group Holding C.V.’s total shareholding in the company prior to a transfer of shares to Stream Street Limited last week for “full and final settlement of a loan.” Belfast based Stream Street is in turn owned by Frank Boyd, a high-profile Belfast-based property developer and investor and father of Corre Energy co-founder Brendan Boyd who is a shareholder in the Corre Energy Group Holdings C.V. entity.
Following this transfer, Corre Energy Group Holdings C.V. now owns 45.9pc of Corre Energy’s total issued share capital.
The other shareholders in Corre Energy Group Holdings C.V. are Keith McGrane who is CEO of the plc and Darren Patrick Green, who’s 35pc stake in the plc made him the single largest shareholder since the business listed on the stock market. Darren Patrick Green remains a shareholder but stood down as executive director of Corre in February after the Irish Independent reported he had been named in connection with a UK tax probe.
Mr Green was named in a public announcement by His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the UK tax authority, as the ultimate beneficial owner of Procorre, a company they say is linked to a scheme that facilitated UK-based contractors to allegedly move money offshore before paying income tax and national insurance.
Mr Green has said he had no executive role in the company implicated in the UK tax probe, a business that provides personal financial services to self-employed contractors, including cross-border workers and freelancers.
While tax avoidance, even if proved, is not illegal and Mr Green has not been subject to any kind of prosecution or administrative sanction, the UK authorities have come down hard on schemes that purport to reduce tax liability, including by publicly naming people linked to schemes and by flagging to users of schemes that they may have underpaid tax to declare.