Leclanché secures funding of CHF 75 million, and an additional CHF 50 million facility to finance acquisitions and joint ventures in the fast-growing e-Transport and stationary grid-based storage markets.

YVERDON LES BAINS, Switzerland and DALLAS, June 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

• FEFAM¹ increases its investment by a further CHF20 million to a total of CHF75 million.
• FEFAM extends a new conditional CHF 50 million facility to finance acquisitions and joint ventures.
• Leclanché is in the process of acquiring an Energy Management Software suite from a company in the USA.
• Leclanché is in advanced stage of agreement to set up a Joint Venture in India.
• Investment term-sheet with a new strategic investor to further increase the corporate funding.

Leclanché SA (SIX: LECN), one of the world's leading energy storage solution companies, today announces that it has secured new additional funding from FEFAM, Leclanché's largest shareholder.  

The new funding follows Leclanché's full year 2017 results announcement on 3 May 2018 that the Company is expected to be EBITDA positive by 2020, supported by an order book of over 50 MWh, contributing CHF 40-50 million of revenue in 2018, and a milestone of 100MWh of energy storage systems in operation by 2018.

In addition to the CHF 75 million committed corporate funding, FEFAM has agreed to provide a conditional CHF 50 million funding facility for acquisitions and joint ventures. The facility shall operate on the basis of a Right-of-First-Offer ("ROFO") for FEFAM.

Further, as indicated on March 1, Leclanché confirms that the Company has signed a non-binding term sheet with a potential strategic investor to increase its overall corporate funding to between CHF100 million and CHF125 million. We anticipate that negotiations will be completed, and a final agreement will be executed by Q4 2018.

Anil Srivastava, CEO of Leclanché, said: "This substantial investment fully funds our business plan through to 2020 when we expect to be EBITDA positive. We thank FEFAM for their continued strong investment support. This additional funding will allow us to capitalise on the exciting opportunities we see in the fast-growing markets of stationary grid-based storage and e-Transport worldwide.

The opportunity for Leclanché is now. We have a strong order book and pipeline, which reflects our unique opportunity in these unprecedented times for the electricity and transport industries.

We aim to use the acquisitions and joint-ventures facility to accelerate Leclanché's technology leadership through margin accretive acquisition(s); and grow market share in Europe, Asia and North American in both the stationary grid-based storage and e-Transport businesses.

We are in the process of completing the acquisition of a leading Energy Management Software solution from a company based in the USA. We are also in the advanced stage of completing an agreement to set up a joint venture with a market leader in India.  This JV will give Leclanché a strong foothold in one of the potentially largest Electric Vehicles market in the world. We look forward to updating the market in the near future.  

 Leclanché has never been in a better position to meet the needs of both the disruptors and the incumbents who are changing the way that we produce, distribute and consume electricity and how we transport people and products, as we move towards a clean energy future."

About Leclanché
Headquartered in Switzerland, Leclanché SA is a leading provider of high quality energy storage solutions designed to accelerate our progress towards a clean energy future.

Leclanché's history and heritage is rooted in over 100 years of battery and energy storage innovation and the Company is a trusted provider of energy storage solutions globally. This coupled with the Company's culture of German engineering and Swiss precision and quality, continues to make Leclanché the partner of choice for both disruptors, established companies and governments who are pioneering positive changes in how energy is produced, distributed and consumed around the world.

The energy transition is being driven primarily by changes in the management of our electricity networks and the electrification of transport, and these two end markets form the backbone of our strategy and business model. Leclanché is at the heart of the convergence of the electrification of transport and the changes in the distribution network. Leclanché is the only listed pure play energy storage company in the world, organised along three business units: stationary storage solutions, etransport solutions and specialty batteries systems. Leclanché is listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange (SIX:LECN).

SIX Swiss Exchange: ticker symbol LECN | ISIN CH 011 030 311 9

Disclaimer

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to Leclanché's business, which can be identified by terminology such as "strategic", "proposes", "to introduce", "will", "planned", "expected", "commitment", "expects", "set", "preparing", "plans", "estimates", "aims", "would", "potential", "awaiting", "estimated", "proposal", or similar expressions, or by expressed or implied discussions regarding the ramp up of Leclanché's production capacity, potential applications for existing products, or regarding potential future revenues from any such products, or potential future sales or earnings of Leclanché or any of its business units.

You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current views of Leclanché regarding future events, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. There can be no guarantee that Leclanché's products will achieve any particular revenue levels. Nor can there be any guarantee that Leclanché, or any of the business units, will achieve any particular financial results.

¹ FEFAM means:  AM INVESTMENT SCA, SICAV-SIF - Liquid Assets Sub-Fund, together with FINEXIS EQUITY FUND - Renewable Energy Sub-Fund, FINEXIS EQUITY FUND - Multi Asset Strategy Sub-Fund, FINEXIS EQUITY FUND - E Money Strategies Sub-Fund (also called Energy Storage Invest) and, all these funds being in aggregate the main shareholder of Leclanché, hereunder referred to as "FEFAM".

SOURCE Leclanche SA