InfraStrata eyes $7.7m cash boost to revamp Titanic builder Harland & Wolff

UK player InfraStrata is seeking to raise a minimum of £6 million ($7.7 million) to finance the acquisition of Belfast’s famous Harland & Wolff shipyard and progress the Islandmagee gas storage project and proposed floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) project in Northern Ireland.

InfraStrata said it launched the placing of its new ordinary shares via an accelerated bookbuild at 0.3 pence per share.

The proceeds of the placing will be used to finance the acquisition of the principal assets of Harland & Wolff, progress the Islandmagee project and for general working capital purposes, according to InfraStrata.

“It is the intention of the board for the company to make an open offer to shareholders in order to give them an opportunity to subscribe for new ordinary shares at the same price as investors under the placing,” InfraStrata said.

In October, InfraStrata signed heads of terms to purchase the principal assets of Harland & Wolff Heavy Industries Limited and Harland & Wolff Group, which comprise of a multi-purpose fabrication facility, quaysides and docking facilities in the port in Northern Ireland.

The future of the yard, which built the Titanic passenger liner that sunk in the Northern Atlantic on its maiden voyage in 1912, had been under threat after entering administration in August after its Norwegian parent company, Dolphin Drilling (formerly Fred Olsen Energy) filed for bankruptcy earlier in the year.

“The strategic Harland & Wolff assets acquisition enables InfraStrata to bring in-house a large part of the engineering and fabrication requirements for the company’s Islandmagee gas storage project and proposed FSRU project,” InfraStrata said.

“By utilising the assets, the company anticipates a material reduction in the capital cost of each of its projects and a reduction in the construction timelines,” the company said.

In addition, all the 70 employees of Harland & Wolff who did not opt for redundancy earlier in the year will be retained immediately following completion of the acquisition.

InfraStrata expects a new management team to be employed by the first quarter of 2020 and plans to significantly increase the size of the workforce by several hundred over the next five years as it progresses the development of the projects.