(News Bulletin 247) – The company from Evry has launched a capital increase with maintenance of preferential subscription rights, of which 5.6 million euros are subject to guarantees or commitments.

Global Bioenergies is appealing to the market to finance the next stages of its development. The company specializes in the development of isobutene (a molecule usually derived from petroleum) from plant resources.

It then combines three molecules of isobutene into isododecane, a mineral oil that is one of the main ingredients in cosmetic products, representing up to 50% of their production. Isododecane has another important application: aviation fuels.

It is to finance the rise in production and research in these different applications that the company decided to launch, Monday evening, a capital increase of an amount of 7.5 million euros. An extension clause could possibly bring the gross amount raised to 8 million euros, depending on demand.

Production ramp-up

The operation has several purposes. First of all, it must ensure the working capital requirement of the production chain of its industrial unit in Pomacle-Bazancourt, near Reims.

“The Pomacle-Bazancourt site, which began production in November, currently has a capacity of 1.5 tonnes per week and should eventually reach a maximum capacity of 2 tonnes per week, i.e. 100 tonnes per year. Part of the production of isobutene, currently limited to a maximum of 20 tonnes per year, can be converted into ingredients for the cosmetics industry or into ingredients for road fuels. We are particularly targeting Formula 1, which will run without oil from 2026”, explains to News Bulletin 247 Marc Delcourt, the managing director and co-founder of the company.

“This site could generate revenues of between 6 and 10 million euros in 2023, according to the analysts who follow us,” he continues.

This capital increase should also finance the preliminary project studies for the ViaViridia plant, which is scheduled to start up in mid-2026. “We expect to finalize the financing of this plant in the second quarter of 2023”, indicates Marc Delcourt. “With 2,000 tonnes per year, this new plant should allow us to acquire a leading status in the field of industrial biology. Most of the production will be focused on cosmetic ingredients”, adds the manager.

Finally, this capital increase must finance R&D operations to reduce production costs in order, ultimately, to serve the air and road transport industry.

“We could obtain a favorable vote from the specialized committee of the ASTM (an organization that writes and produces technical standards) as early as April for an application of our process in sustainable aviation fuels. The certification would then be ratified in June in a plenary meeting,” says Marc Delcourt.

In the end, the capital increase will significantly extend the financial horizon of the company. “We are currently burning 1 million euros in cash per month, which should nevertheless be reduced with the rise in power of our income. The capital increase provides us with a financing horizon of more than one year”, develops Marc Delcourt.

L’Oréal participates in the operation

Regarding the terms of the operation, the subscription price for the new shares was set at 2.07 euros per share, ie a discount of 25.5% compared to Monday’s closing price of 2.78 euros.

In terms of impact for holders, GlobalBioenergies explains that, on a non-diluted basis, a shareholder holding 1% of the capital would see his stake reduced to 0.81% if he does not participate in the operation.

This increase will maintain the DPS (preferential subscription right). Each current shareholder will receive one PSR per share held and may use 25 PSRs to subscribe to six new shares. Holders who do not wish to exercise their PSRs or only in part will be able to sell them, since the PSRs will be listed between March 8 and March 22 on Euronext. After this date, the value of the DPS will be zero.

The subscription period for the new shares will be open from March 10 to March 24 with settlement-delivery scheduled for March 31.

Marc Delcourt, has undertaken to subscribe up to 160,000 euros. The cosmetics group L’Oréal, the company’s largest shareholder (13.11% of the capital) via its investment fund BOLD (Business Opportunities for L’Oréal Development) will subscribe to the operation so as to maintain its share current share, which represents an investment of 980,000 euros.

The group has also obtained guarantees of up to 4.5 million euros from qualified investors, which means that approximately 75% of the operation (5.6 million euros) is subject to commitments or guarantees.

On the Paris Stock Exchange, the Global Bioenergies share fell by 20% around 12:10 p.m., a logical reaction in view of the discount offered by the capital increase.