The Delaware Supreme Court has upheld an earlier ruling that Leaf Clean Energy (LEAF:150p) is entitled to the $30m (£24m) of pre-judgement interest that the Aim-traded clean energy investment company was awarded in its successful legal case against Invenergy Wind LLC, North America's largest independently owned wind power generation company. Invenergy had previously settled the damages Leaf is entitled to in relation to the court-ordered redemption of its 2.3 per cent equity stake in Invenergy Wind LLC, but had appealed the award of pre-judgement interest.
Leaf subsequently returned £53.1m of its £83.6m cash pile by way of a compulsory redemption of 66.47 per cent of its issued share capital at 151.94p per share in August this year (‘Banking Leaf’s massive payout’, 1 Aug 2019), but held back £30.5m (173p a share) pending the outcome of Invenergy’s appeal against the pre-judgement interest. The Leaf board will now revert to shareholders with further details regarding the wind down of the company, including the process and timing of any further compulsory partial redemption of shares in due course.
Realistically, I expect a further cash return of 160p after factoring in wind-up costs of the company, representing another bumper 300 per cent-plus return on my recommended 38p entry point when I advised buying the shares (‘Pointing to a successful outcome’, 19 Apr 2016). Hold.
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Simon Thompson has been named 2019 Small Cap Journalist of the year at the 2019 Small Cap Awards, a prestigious event celebrating the best and rewarding the finest professionals and companies that work within the AIM and NEX communities. It is attended by institutions, fund managers, brokers and advisors operating in the sub-£100m market cap quoted company sector.
