Fresh money for Carbios

In order to retain shareholders’ preemptive subscription rights, French plastics recycling specialist Carbios SAS has announced the beginning of a capital increase in cash with an initial gross amount of around €122m. If the extension clause is fully exercised, the amount would likely climb to about €141m.

An estimated €230m will be invested in the companys first commercial-scale polyethylene terephtalate (PET) recycling facility that will have an annual capacity of 50,000 tons. About 85% of the net revenues from the sale of the offered shares are to go toward financing that project. The portion of the first plant’s investment that is not covered by the net proceeds of the offering will be paid for with money received from Indorama Ventures (€110m), government grants from France (€30m) and the Grand-Est Region (€12.5m), as well as a portion of the company’s cash on hand (€83m as of May 31^st). PET research and development will be supported with the remaining 15% of the net proceeds of the issue.  

Construction of the plant is set to begin by the end of 2023, according to Carbios’ CEO Emmanuel Ladent. The anticipated commissioning date is 2025. “It is with the aim of financing this plant, accelerating our R&D and the deployment of research activities for other polymers and other applications of our technologies, that we are launching this capital increase with the maintenance of preemptive subscription rights to let you take part in the acceleration of our growth,” explains Ladent.

The subscription price per Offered Share represents a nominal discount of -37% compared to the closing price of the Carbios Share on the trading day prior to the Prospectus approval date, which was €40.10 on June 20^th, and a discount of -29% compared to the theoretical value of the Carbios Ex-Rights Share. The Capital Increase will be open to the public exclusively in France. They will be immediately assimilated to the Company’s existing shares and will be traded under the same ISIN code FR0013156007 starting on July the 13^th.

Carbios has been continuously pushing the PET industry to go fully circular. Since PET that has been biologically recycled possesses the same characteristics as PET made of petrochemicals and may be made from PET trash that has undergone enzymatic depolymerization, it supports the idea of a circular PET economy. Circular economy will be one of the main topics of this year’s INDUSTRIA BIOTEC taking place in Berlin on the 21^st and 22^nd of September. Register here.