Result of Initial Issue and Total Voting Rights

NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, TO US PERSONS OR INTO OR WITHIN THE UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, CANADA, SOUTH AFRICA OR JAPAN, OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE, OR TO ANY OTHER PERSON TO WHOM, TO DO SO WOULD BE UNLAWFUL. THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN DOES NOT CONSTITUTE OR FORM PART OF ANY OFFER TO SELL OR ISSUE, OR ANY SOLICITATION OF ANY OFFER TO PURCHASE, SUBSCRIBE FOR OR OTHERWISE ACQUIRE, ANY INVESTMENTS IN ANY JURISDICTION.

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT HAS BEEN DETERMINED TO CONTAIN INSIDE INFORMATION.

7 May 2021                                                                                                    

US SOLAR FUND PLC ("USF", the "Company")

Result of Initial Issue and Total Voting Rights

On 13 April 2021, the Company announced it was seeking to raise $105 million through a non pre-emptive issue of new Ordinary Shares in the capital of the Company under its recently launched Placing Programme (Initial Issue). The Board of Directors is pleased to announce that the Initial Issue was well supported by new and existing investors and has been oversubscribed.

Taking into account the Company's proposed use of proceeds, the Company has decided to increase the size of the Initial Issue to approximately $132 million of gross proceeds. In consultation with the Investment Manager, the Board of Directors has agreed that it would allocate an additional c.$7.5 million to the Heelstone refinancing, use a further c.$8 million to repay existing drawings under the Company's revolving credit facility, and retain the balance for working capital and subsequent investments consistent with the Company's Investment Policy. Accordingly a total of 132,000,000 new ordinary shares (New Shares) will be issued at the Placing Price of $1.00 per New Share of which 122,392,978 New Shares will be issued pursuant to the Placing, 3,299,868 New Shares will be issued pursuant to the Offer for Subscription and 6,307,154 New Shares issued under the Intermediaries Offer.

Notwithstanding the increased size of the Initial Issue, applications for the New Shares exceeded the total number of shares to be issued and accordingly a scaling back exercise has been undertaken with respect to applications received pursuant to the Initial Issue.

The Sterling equivalent issue price has been fixed at 72.0617 pence per New Share, based on the Relevant Sterling Exchange Rate of 1.38770.  

Gill Nott, Chair of US Solar Fund said:

"We're delighted with this strong backing from individual and institutional investors for our first fundraise following US Solar Fund's IPO two years ago.  We will put these funds to work immediately, reducing our Heelstone Portfolio financing costs along with the fund's total gearing, and deploying into our pipeline of attractive investment opportunities. Among other benefits, these transactions will increase dividend cover and be accretive to NAV.

"With President Biden recently announcing yet more ambitious carbon reduction targets, and extending Federal subsidy support, we believe the opportunity and need to invest in utility scale solar remain compelling and urgent.  We would like to thank our new and existing investors for their support and look forward to updating them on further progress shortly."

Application for Admission

Application has been made for the New Shares to be admitted to the premium listing segment of the Official List of the Financial Conduct Authority and to trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange (Admission). It is expected that Admission will become effective and dealings in the Placing Shares will commence at 8.00 a.m. on 11 May 2021.

Following Admission, the number of ordinary shares that the Company has in issue will be 332,192,361. The total number of voting rights of the Company will be 332,192,361 and this figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

Unless otherwise defined, the terms used in this announcement shall have the same meaning as set out in the prospectus in relation to the Initial issue and Placing Programme that was published by the Company on 13 April 2021.

LEI: 2138007BIUWE7AHS5Y90

ISIN: GB00BJCWFX49

For further information, please contact:

About US Solar Fund plc 

US Solar Fund plc listed on the premium segment of the London Stock Exchange in April 2019, following its successful $200m IPO. The Company's investment objective is to provide investors with attractive and sustainable dividends with an element of capital growth by investing in a diversified portfolio of solar power assets in North America and other OECD countries in the Americas. 

The Company acquires or constructs, owns and operates solar power assets that are expected to have an asset life of at least 30 years and generate stable and uncorrelated cashflows by selling electricity to creditworthy offtakers under long-term power purchase agreements (or PPAs). 

Further information on the Company can be found on its website at http://www.ussolarfund.co.uk.

About the Investment Manager 

USF is managed by New Energy Solar Manager (NESM). NESM also manages New Energy Solar, an Australian Securities Exchange (ASX)-listed fund.  NESM manages over US$1.4bn of invested capital across US and Australian solar plants. 

NESM is owned by E&P Funds, the funds management division of E&P Financial Group, an ASX listed company (ASX: EP1) with over A$20 billion of funds under advice.

IMPORTANT NOTICES

This communication is only addressed to, and directed at, persons in the United Kingdom who are "qualified investors" within the meaning of Article 2(e) of the UK Prospectus Regulation (Qualified Investors).  For the purposes of this provision, the expression "UK Prospectus Regulation" means the UK version of the EU Prospectus Regulation (2017/1129/EU) which is part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.  In the United Kingdom, this communication is being distributed only to, and is directed only at, Qualified Investors (i) who have professional experience in matters relating to investments who fall within the definition of "investment professional" in Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (Order), or (ii) who are high net worth companies, unincorporated associations and partnerships and trustees of high value trusts as described in Article 49(2) of the Order, and (iii) other persons to whom it may otherwise lawfully be communicated (all such persons together being referred to as "relevant persons").  Any investment or investment activity to which this communication relates is available only to and will only be engaged in with such persons.  This communication must not be acted on or relied on in the United Kingdom, by persons who are not Qualified Investors.

This announcement is an advertisement and not a prospectus and investors should not subscribe for or purchase any shares referred to in this announcement except on the basis of information in the prospectus to be published by the Company in due course in connection with the admission of the shares in the capital of the Company to the Official List of the Financial Conduct Authority and to trading on the London Stock Exchange plc's main market for listed securities (Prospectus).  Copies of the Prospectus will, following publication, be available from the Company's website.

This announcement is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy the securities of the Company (such securities being the Securities) in the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, South Africa or in any other jurisdiction where such offer or sale would be unlawful.

The Company has not been and will not be registered under the US Investment Company Act of 1940 (Investment Company Act) and, as such, holders of the Securities will not be entitled to the benefits of the Investment Company Act.  No offer, sale, resale, pledge, delivery, distribution or transfer of the Securities may be made except under circumstances that will not result in the Company being required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act.  The Securities have not been and will not be registered under the US Securities Act of 1933 (Securities Act), or with any securities regulatory authority of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States, and may not be offered, sold, resold, pledged, distributed or transferred, directly or indirectly, into or within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, US persons as defined in Regulation S under the Securities Act (US Persons)  except pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act and in compliance with any applicable securities laws of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States and in a manner which would not require the Company to register under the Investment Company Act. No public offering of the Securities is being made in the United States.

Nothing in this announcement constitutes investment advice and any recommendations that may be contained herein have not been based upon a consideration of the investment objectives, financial situation or particular needs of any specific recipient.

The information and opinions contained in this announcement are provided as at the date of the document and are subject to change and no representation or warranty, express or implied, is or will be made in relation to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained herein and no responsibility, obligation or liability or duty (whether direct or indirect, in contract, tort or otherwise) is or will be accepted by the Company, the Investment Manager, the Joint Bookrunners or any of their affiliates or by any of their respective officers, employees or agents in relation to it. No reliance may be placed for any purpose whatsoever on the information or opinions contained in this announcement or on its completeness, accuracy or fairness. The document has not been approved by any competent regulatory or supervisory authority.

Potential investors should be aware that any investment in the Company is speculative, involves a high degree of risk, and could result in the loss of all or substantially all of their investment. Results can be positively or negatively affected by market conditions beyond the control of the Company or any other person. The returns set out in the Prospectus and in this announcement are targets only. There is no guarantee that any returns set out in the Prospectus and in this announcement can be achieved or can be continued if achieved, nor that the Company will make any distributions whatsoever. There may be other additional risks, uncertainties and factors that could cause the returns generated by the Company to be materially lower than the returns set out in this announcement. Past performance cannot be relied on as a guide to future performance.

The information in this announcement may include forward-looking statements, which are based on the current expectations and projections about future events and in certain cases can be identified by the use of terms such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "anticipate", "project", "estimate", "intend", "continue", "target", "believe" (or the negatives thereon) or other variations thereon or comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements, as well as those included in any related materials, are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions about the Company, including, among other things, the development of its business, trends in its operating industry, and future capital expenditures and acquisitions. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the events in the forward-looking statements may not occur.

Each of the Company, the Investment Manager and the Joint Bookrunners and their affiliates and their respective officers, employees and agents expressly disclaim any and all liability which may be based on this announcement and any errors therein or omissions therefrom.

No representation or warranty is given to the achievement or reasonableness of future projections, management targets, estimates, prospects or returns, if any. Any views contained herein are based on financial, economic, market and other conditions prevailing as at the date of this announcement. The information contained in this announcement will not be updated.

Information to Distributors

Solely for the purposes of the product governance requirements contained within: the FCA's PROD3 Rules on product governance within the FCA Handbook (FCA PROD3 Rules), and disclaiming all and any liability, whether arising in tort, contract or otherwise, which any "manufacturer" (for the purposes of the FCA PROD3 Rules) may otherwise have with respect thereto, the Ordinary Shares the subject of the Offer have been subject to a product approval process, which has determined that such Ordinary Shares are: (i) compatible with an end target market of retail investors and investors who meet the criteria of professional clients and eligible counterparties, each as defined in FCA Glossary; and (ii) eligible for distribution through all distribution channels as are permitted by PROD3 (Target Market Assessment). Notwithstanding the Target Market Assessment, Distributors should note that: the price of the Ordinary Shares may decline and investors could lose all or part of their investment; the Ordinary Shares offer no guaranteed income and no capital protection; and an investment in the Ordinary Shares is compatible only with investors who do not need a guaranteed income or capital protection, who (either alone or in conjunction with an appropriate financial or other adviser) are capable of evaluating the merits and risks of such an investment and who have sufficient resources to be able to bear any losses that may result therefrom. The Target Market Assessment is without prejudice to the requirements of any contractual, legal or regulatory selling restrictions in relation to the Offer. Furthermore, it is noted that, notwithstanding the Target Market Assessment, the Joint Bookrunners will only procure investors who meet the criteria of professional clients and eligible counterparties.

For the avoidance of doubt, the Target Market Assessment does not constitute: (a) an assessment of suitability or appropriateness for the purposes of the FCA PROD3 Rules; or (b) a recommendation to any investor or group of investors to invest in, or purchase, or take any other action whatsoever with respect to the Ordinary Shares.

Each distributor is responsible for undertaking its own target market assessment in respect of the Ordinary Shares and determining appropriate distribution channels.