Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 4 (MEIF4), which is managed by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA), has announced today a friendly takeover offer for Theolia. Theolia is an independent wind electricity producer, which operates 1,269 MW of wind capacity on its own account and for third party customers in France, Germany, Italy and Morocco.

According to a press release by Theolia, the offer aims to give Theolia a long-term, majority shareholder that will provide stability in a difficult economic and regulatory environment. Theolia would be able to plan for repayment of its convertible bonds ahead of the early redemption date of 1 January 2015, and to pursue its development plans.

The press release also said that the offer provides the shareholders, the holders of the convertible bonds and the holders of the warrants immediate and total liquidity at an attractive valuation. The price of 1.70 euro per share, assessed as fair from a financial standpoint by the Board-appointed independent expert, offers a premium of 51.8% over the last share price prior to the announcement of the offer and 40.8% over the volume-weighted average price over one month.

As at the date of filing the offer, four shareholders (Michel Meeus, Pierre Salik, Brigitte Salik and Fady Khallouf) representing 13.45% of the share capital of Theolia (17.96% of the voting rights) have committed to tender all their securities to the offer.

Bruno Angles, President of Macquarie in France, said:

"We welcome the support of Theolia's management and Board. We are conscious that Theolia still has a lot of work to do in order to deliver on its various projects. We look forward to working alongside Fady Khallouf, who will continue to lead the company through this new phase of its development, capitalizing on his experience, expertise and energy. We are very pleased to be launching this offer."

Fady Khallouf, Theolia's CEO, said:

"After three years of transformation, Theolia has become an efficient operating platform. This friendly takeover offer is a great opportunity for Theolia and its shareholders. It would allow Theolia to both repay the convertible bond and increase its capacity for future development. Macquarie is an ideal long-term investor to support Theolia in this new phase."

Michel Meeus, Chairman of the Board of Theolia, said:

"Theolia has made considerable progress over the past three years, building a strong business model and an ideal platform for long-term investment. Today, Macquarie offers to write a new page in the history of Theolia. The Board of Directors fully supports this offer which is in the interest of the company, its shareholders and bondholders."

Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 4 (MEIF 4) is a €2.75 billion infrastructure fund which seeks to invest in a diversified portfolio of infrastructure business in the European Union, Norway, Switzerland and Iceland. The Fund is managed by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA).

MEIF4 has existing investments in two European gas networks: Open Grid Europe, Germany's largest gas network which was acquired from e.ON in July 2012; and a Czech gas network co-owned with RWE since December 2012. It is a successor Fund to MEIF1, 2 and 3 which have been investing in European infrastructure since 2003 and have together committed more than €7.3 billion to 20 European infrastructure businesses, including the French toll road operator APRR in partnership with Eiffage, and Brussels Airport, alongside the Belgian Government.

Source: Theolia