Ipsa delists from London’s AIM

IPSA’s listing on London’s AIM exchange is no more after the independent power producer failed to conclude an acquisition following the sale of its sole trading subsidiary.

Ipsa agreed to sell its only operating asset, Newcastle Cogeneration, which was held in a company called Blazeway, to private company Sloane Corporation for about R48.6m, including a cash injection and payments to creditors.

Sloane Corporation is wholly owned by Peter Earl, who is the CEO of the group.

The sale of Blazeway meant Ipsa became a cash shell under AIM rules and needed to conclude an acquisition or reverse takeover within six months. The deadline for this was August 29.

The move to sell was necessary, as it allowed the company to avoid entering business rescue and it raised much-needed working capital.

In the statement announcing the delisting, Ipsa said it continued to seek a sale of its balance of plant in store in Italy.

“Ipsa may wish to seek to return to the market at a future date when the balance of plant has occurred and creditors have been paid and a corporate acquisition has been concluded.

“In the meantime, the directors are exploring ways to realise value for shareholders by way of a corporate transaction with another UK entity,” it said.

Ipsa was a pioneer of gasfired electricity production in SA. It intended to build a large plant at Coega, but failed to agree a long-term deal to supply Eskom, and so built a smaller one at Newcastle, with shortterm contracts with Eskom.

In its results for the year to end March 2016, the company reported revenue of £2.5m from £3.6m, while the group loss after tax narrowed to £0.56m from £6.93m in the same period a year earlier.

In June, Ipsa described its financial position as “difficult and uncertain”.

Ipsa still has its listing on the AltX. The share price was unchanged on Friday, at 47c.