The Macquarie Group-backed company behind a long-delayed power plant in northern England is considering raising as much as £150 million (€172 million) from investors so it can start operating in July, according to Bloomberg.
MGT Teesside Ltd., which owns and operates Tees Renewable Energy Plant, will raise the money to bolster liquidity and cover costs including debt coming due in June, according to people familiar with the matter.
The company is a joint venture between Macquarie, Danish pension fund PKA and a group of Korean investors.
MGT is considering options including an equity injection, the people said, asking not to be named discussing private information. It is also discussing with lenders whether part of the fundraising includes debt, they said.
A person familiar with the matter said that EPH, which had previously been suggested as a potential investor, confirmed that the company is not interested.
Spokespeople for Macquarie and PKA and EPH declined to comment. A spokesperson for MGT Teesside didn’t reply to a request for comment. The talks come after years of construction delays and setbacks for the project, including including fires and problems with the boiler.
The company changed contractors twice, first because Abengoa SA— which was working in tandem with Toshiba Corp. — ran into financial trouble, and then because the consortium formed by Tecnicas Reunidas SA and Samsung C&T Corp. didn’t meet the agreed timings.
If successful, it would operate at a capacity of 299 megawatts and be among the world’s largest power plants to run only on biomass.
The £150 million (€172 million) figure is at the high-end of the range needed by the company to ensure it doesn’t need to tap the markets again soon, the people familiar said.
Shareholders injected an additional £100 million last year to finish the project, according to the earnings report for the year ending in March 31 2022, the latest available.
Macquarie’s considers raising £150m for delayed UK biomass plant
